Israeli band gets special children to say ‘Tararam’

On Tuesday afternoon, children of SPJ Sadhana School for the mentally challenged clapped their hands sore at the Christmas party. The Peddar Road school students were not applauding any ordinary dance performance, but trying to keep beat with the energetic drummers of the Israeli band, Tararam, reports Aarefa Johari.

On Tuesday afternoon, children of SPJ Sadhana School for the mentally challenged clapped their hands sore at the Christmas party. The Peddar Road school students were not applauding any ordinary dance performance, but trying to keep beat with the energetic drummers of the Israeli band, Tararam.

HT Image

The 10-member band is currently in the city to perform for IIT-Bombay’s Mood Indigo on Wednesday. On a request by the Israeli Consulate, four members performed a charity show for the special children at Sadhana School. The children excitedly joined in with the performance, clapping, tapping, stomping and dancing to the beat.

Founded in 1997 by drummer and composer Doron Raphaeli, Tararam is known internationally for their unique dance-drumming performances that involve the use of everyday objects like chairs, spoons or utensils.

“I like to call our style ‘natural drumming’, because we basically drum on our own bodies,” said Raphaeli (44), who studied at New York’s La Fareta African Music Centre and was influenced by the new rhythmical genre introduced by the British band Stomp in 1991.

“But we have gone beyond Stomp by incorporating synchronised dance-steps, singing and acting along with our music.”

Tararam blends basic Mediterranean rhythms with jazz, Latino, hip-hop and other international styles. At the Sadhana School, band member, Amir Weiss, played tunes from Bollywood songs on the pantam, a kind of Trinidadian steel drum.

“We always do charity shows and acoustic performances called ‘Tararam Unplugged’ wherever we go,” said Itay Ben-David (24), one of the youngest members who joined the band three years ago.