Sound is the life and soul of music . No matter how amazing the melody might be , it is the raw quality of the sound that defines the quality of what we call “ music ”. One such young and extremely talented 23-year-old artist has been getting quite a bit of attention in musical circles .
Manikandan , known professionally as Sound Mani , is known for playing the Parai , a traditional Tamil frame drum . He doesn ’ t just play this unique instrument but also studies the history of this and other instruments born of his community and country .
He performs , conducts workshops , teaches , and helps out struggling musicians , all while being a man in his early twenties . The Score Magazine caught up with this prodigious artist to get a peek into his art , life , and future .
Let ’ s talk about the instrument that started your journey . What is the parai ? How did you come across it ? What made you fall in love with its sound ?
My interest in music started during my childhood itself . I would play music with the vessels like the plate and plastic pot at home . In fact , I am the first one in the family to get into music .
I am from a place called Erode and during festivals people would play the ‘ Parai ’. I would actually be dancing to that sound and when nobody was around , I would even go and try to play that instrument . I would also be tapping the bench in my class when I was in 10th grade .
Once when I was tapping the bench , my teacher called out the name of the community which is identified with ‘ parai ’, and asked me as to why I was playing like somebody from that community , especially since I am not from that community .
However , even my friends stopped talking to me for a couple of days after that incident . ‘ This too is a musical instrument , so what is wrong in playing this ?’, I wondered and narrated the incident to my parents . They too said the instrument belonged to a particular community and that ‘ we ’ are not supposed to play that .
‘ Casteism in music too ?’ – this was my thought and just to break this myth and the taboo associated with that instrument , I started playing parai . In my opinion , unlike many other instruments like guitar , piano , etc ., this parai is directly connected to the soul ; yes , to my soul .
You said that initially , you faced some opposition when you started to pursue music . Can you tell us a bit about that ? How did you stick to your guns despite all the nay-sayers ?
It took me a lot of time to convince my parents . Meanwhile , I went to Chennai to study ‘ Sound Engineering ’ at ‘ MGR Film Institute ’. I made a parai on my own and started playing it .
Parai is the world ’ s first instrument . Parai in Tamil means ‘ to speak ’, ‘ to spread ’. So , even in the very beginning mankind used this instrument to communicate with others .
How did you actually start living your vision ? For example , how did you put together your first workshop ? Or , how did you find your first performance outside your hometown and community ?
When I was a child , I would dance to the rhythm of this instrument on stage . No one said anything then but when I wanted to touch the instrument and feel it , I would be stopped and would be taken away from that place . I did not know anything about caste and discrimination then .
When I was in the 11th grade , people were playing this instrument in my street and I would do impromptu dance on the street . When my mother saw this , she was distraught and went and locked herself up in a room . She even attempted suicide later , because being in a village she grew up with the mindset that the instrument belonged to the ( socalled ) lower caste people and she thought that I too would be ( ill ) treated like how people from that community were being treated .
What affected me the most was my teacher chiding me in the class for playing on the bench like a boy from that particular community . But once I went to Chennai and stayed in the hostel , I was on my own and there was nobody to stop me from playing this instrument . I started making videos of myself playing the instrument and posted those on YouTube . They went viral quickly .
The Score Magazine highonscore . com
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