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Tanmay Mukherjee: Musicians need to come in front, not behind singers
Playing with a band as a percussionist, Lucknowite Tanmay Mukherjee decided to go solo and work on bringing his instrument to the forefront
Playing with a band as a percussionist, Lucknowite Tanmay Mukherjee decided to go solo and work on bringing his instrument to the forefront. Drumming being his forte, he succeeded in performing over 500 musical shows across India as well as abroad. Besides, he is on a mission of preparing a battery of drummers pan-India.
“We (Amit Mishra, Monty and Max) formed Trishna Band way back in 2007 and won the top four slot at India Rocks India reality Tv show that earned us good fame and popularity. We were doing very well but slowly we decided to branch out and it was then I too decided to go solo,” shares the musician, 34.
“I wanted to bring percussion to the forefront and not behind any singer. So, I started focusing on fusion music with DJs, folk music and classical singers. With percussionist Sivamani as my source of inspiration, I started experimenting with water and fire drumming along with other new elements,” he says.
He’s the first drummer to represent India in Malaysia in 2017 and then in Hong Kong (2019). “I got opportunity to play with Bollywood singer Sunidhi Chauhan in Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar and Bangladesh and was really happy that her team found me through YouTube and approached me.”
During lockdown Mukherjee used trash drumming for spreading music awareness and educating students.
“In the period when all schools were closed and were online mode, I trained some 1,500-odd students from across the country in trash drumming. Percussion is a costly investment, so we used waste boxes and household material to train them in making a foundation. Besides, learning music proved as a great stress buster and youngster learnt the importance of rhythm in life.”
His unique model of training students recently featured in Raveena Tandon’s show Desh Ki Baat, Mukherji adds “Now, I have developed a proper model where I train youngsters in trash drumming and instrument then we do a proper show with them.”
So, is he moving to Mumbai? “I keep travelling everywhere but am stationed in Lucknow for now. My online classes are on and I am focusing on that as well. I have just come back from Dubai where we have planned more shows in some time. So, shows, composing music and training students will all go on simultaneously for now,” he signs off.
