Vaathi Coming! Thambola band on target
MALAPPURAM: The intro song ‘Vaathi Coming’ of Vijay in the Tamil movie ‘Master’ has crossed 120 million views on YouTube. The viral video has catapulted the Malappuram-based VMK Thambolam Music Band -- which played the drums for the song -- into stardom. The band comprising 26 youngsters from Velimukku in Malappuram specialise in ‘Thambola melam’ -- a traditional percussion art featuring instruments like thambolam, thasaha and maracas.
After the release of Master, the band has been showered with praise, especially by Vijay fans from all across the world. It started off last February with an associate of music director Anirudh Ravichander calling VMK manager Vinod T asking the band to perform on the drums for the song. But the youngsters -- engaged in a variety of jobs, from bank clerk to daily wage labourers -- were unable to go to Chennai for the recording. Later, three team members reached a studio in Kochi with Anirudh to record and shoot the band’s performance the same month. The lyric video of the song was released in March. “We are really happy to have played a huge role in the success of the song. We had dreamt of a breakthrough but never expected it to be like this,” said Vaishak Narayanan, the lead performer of the band.
Though the band was formed in 2012 to perform at festivals in temples and churches, the youngsters have achieved in less than ten years what remains a dream for many -- to work for a movie. “Our band took shape after we noticed the art form being performed in the rural areas of Palakkad. We found time to practice in the evenings after work and on holidays,” Narayanan said.
Starting out with a few bookings for festivals and inaugurations, they grew over a period of time. They also took to the YouYube. “We improvised several compositions, especially film songs and BGMs. Music director Anirudh approached us after watching our improvised videos. We also improvised the Petra BGM composed by Ravichander,” Narayanan added.
After people realised VMK played drums for ‘Vaathi Coming’, the band has started receiving more offers to associate with Tamil movies and popular organisations. But most of those projects had to be abandoned because of Covid. “People in our area used to get annoyed with our practice because of the loud noise. Now, they have started to accept us. We want to develop VMK into a nationally recognised band,” said Vinod T, who also doubles up as the manager of the band.