M.S. Maniam -- the mystic disco drummer man<\/p>\n
Joseph Mangga
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The little Indian gentleman looks almost out of place --
\nbespectacled, over 50 years old and dressed in an orange-sequined
\ngenie-like costume.<\/p>\n
He sits patiently on a stool next to one of the most famous
\nand highly paid international DJs in the world, surrounded by
\nseveral thousand fashionable clubbers, all wildly bouncing to the
\npounding house and trance music echoing throughout Singapore's
\nlegendary Zouk discotheque.<\/p>\n
Between his legs rests his beloved copper-plated djemba -- not
\na traditional bowl-like Indian tabla (which he also plays
\nexpertly), but a special hourglass-shaped drum of Egyptian design
\nwith a sharper higher timbre, like a conga or bongo.<\/p>\n
The DJ nods to Maniam, then the little man with the magic
\ngolden fingers begins to tap away, in perfect flow and pitch with
\nthe varied musical outpourings from the DJ booth.<\/p>\n
The crowd visibly reacts, screaming \"Go Maniam, go...!.\", as
\nthe speed and excitement of his solo builds, lifting the clubbers
\nto that coveted next higher level.<\/p>\n
Beautiful women boogie up to his feet and play with his socks,
\nchecking to see if they're really Versace. The club then goes
\ntotally mental as Maniam's beats become an impossibly fast blur
\nof rhythm.<\/p>\n
After more than 10 years at Zouk, jamming almost every weekend
\nwith the world's most famed DJ gods -- like Paul Oakenfold, Danny
\nTenaglia, John Digweed, Paul van Dyk and Sasha -- Maniam has
\nhimself become something of a bona fide dance music icon as well.
\nSo much so that he often has trouble walking along Orchard Road
\nin Singapore without someone recognizing him.<\/p>\n
\"I can't even go to Starbucks or Coffee Bean to drink coffee
\nsometimes,\" says Maniam. \"People go, 'Excuse me? Are you the
\npercussionist at Zouk? Can I have a visit?' It happens like
\nthat. But I am humble (and try to) be nice to everybody. They
\nare full of encouragement and say, 'Go for it man, you are now
\nthere. The path is open for you...!'\"<\/p>\n
His astonishing occupation -- disco percussionist -- has to
\nqualify as one of the most unusual and enviable jobs on the
\nplanet, but the beginnings of this path are even stranger still.
\nBorn in Singapore in 1947, he was only six months old when his
\ngrandfather noticed something odd about his fingers.<\/p>\n
\"When I was lying down asleep on the carpet, my fingers used
\nto always twitch and move. Always! After about a year they got
\nan astrologer (to) chart my future. (They said I would) either
\nbecome a criminal lawyer or a very great musician.\"<\/p>\n
Of course, no one in his family saw much future in music, so
\nManiam was steered toward academics and law. Then fate began to
\nintervene at the age of 15 when he was asked to play tabla at a
\nHindu temple function when he really didn't know how.<\/p>\n
\"There was this guru -- a tabla guru -- who was in the back
\n(of the temple) listening to my playing. He approached and said,
\n'Where did you learn?' I said, 'I've never had any training.'
\nHe said, 'What...! Are you sure? Without learning you are so
\ngood?! '\"<\/p>\n
The guru immediately wanted Maniam to become his student, but
\nhis father refused, until Maniam had finished his pre-college
\nstudies. His father kept his word, and Maniam subsequently
\nstudied under the tutelage of several local gurus.<\/p>\n
Years later, one guru arranged for Maniam to meet the famed
\nsitar player Ravi Shankar -- who is credited with introducing
\nIndian-style music to George Harrison and the Beatles -- along
\nwith his master tabla player, Ustad Alarakha.<\/p>\n
\"They came to Singapore to perform. I was just shivering! I
\nwas thinking, 'My God, I'm meeting God!' Alarakha looked at me
\nand he touched my fingers, then I saw his pair of tabla lying
\nthere. 'Do you want to try?', he asked me.<\/p>\n
\"I played just a small solo, and then he spoke to my guru in
\nHindi. I couldn't understand. Later my guru told me, 'He says
\nyou've got fantastic fingers. He says you're going to go
\nsomewhere! You're going to be a great man one of these days!'
\nSo I got both Ravi Shankar's and Alarakha's blessings!\"<\/p>\n
By the 1970s, Maniam had become a talented local musician and
\nwas in hot demand, playing traditional Indian music for radio and
\ntelevision, as well as later touring internationally with
\nmulticultural dance and music ensembles.<\/p>\n
\"It was like a Chinese-Indian-Malay mix. (We'd even) play the
\nLion Dance, and I'm the one solo player. If somebody asks me,
\n'Hey guy! You're fantastic! How come you can play (all those
\nstyles) like this?' I say, 'Excuse me sir, I'm made in
\nSingapore!'\"<\/p>\n
Then one fateful evening in the early '90s, Maniam was asked
\nto play a live concert with Jacinta, a local female jazz and soul
\nsinger whose albums he had performed on. The venue was Zouk.<\/p>\n
\"The boss there, he saw everybody applauding (and) is
\nthinking, 'What's this guy, playing with western music, using
\nethnic instruments?' So he approached me and said, 'Do you like
\nto play house music?' And I said, 'No, sorry. Please leave me
\nalone.'<\/p>\n
\"Because at that time I was very straightforward. But he
\nsaid, 'Why don't you come tomorrow for an audition? You may like
\nit!' I halfheartedly said, 'OK.'\"<\/p>\n
The following day, Maniam got his first taste of house music,
\nas he jammed with Zouk's resident DJ at a sound check. After
\nplaying for only eight minutes, the DJ abruptly stopped the music
\nand called the boss to the DJ booth.<\/p>\n
\"I was thinking, 'Maybe he is unhappy with my drumming?' I
\ncouldn't hear, (but in) the console the DJ was saying, 'Oh my
\nGod! Where did you get this man from?' Then the boss asked,
\n'If you don't mind, can you come Friday night and play with the
\nDJ?'\"<\/p>\n
On Friday Maniam played his first set, followed by the second.
\nEverybody loved it, and he was asked to come back on Saturday.
\nIt was something totally new and exciting in the Asian dance club
\nscene! After two to three months, the clubbers were coming back
\nagain and again just to see Maniam play, and hear how
\nextraordinarily his drumming enhanced the performance of a DJ.<\/p>\n
Maniam explains: \"You know what (some world famous DJs) tell
\nme? They say, 'Sh**, I've played with so many percussionists, in
\nUK and the States, man. Nothing clicks with me. So how come
\nwith you we don't need to rehearse, no sound check, nothing? You
\njust come out and (it's) right. What's happening with you?
\nWhat are you, man?'\"<\/p>\n
These words take on a special mystical significance when one
\nlearns that Maniam meditates regularly, and is a staunch devotee
\nof Shirdi Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual guru who passed away in
\n1918, and once proclaimed that all religions were \"different
\ncandles, each shedding the same light of God\".<\/p>\n
\"His body's nothing now,\" says Maniam of Shirdi, \"but through
\nthe soul (he) wants to help the people, heal the people. Give
\nthem lots of love. Bring peace (and) harmony to the world. So
\nbefore I play I'll always meditate. Get (his) blessings. When
\npeople are very happy when I play, (what) I'm doing is healing
\nthem through our playing.<\/p>\n
\"That means I don't play alone! I'm asking him to come into
\nme. Let's play together to heal the people! Please let them
\nlisten to this music and let them heal. That half an hour is
\npure energy coming out from me. This is what's happening!\"<\/p>\n
Since Maniam is Hindu, and such a naturally gifted musician,
\nwe asked him if he thought he had been reincarnated.<\/p>\n
Had he possibly been a tabla player in a former life?<\/p>\n
He replied, \"Thank you for asking such a beautiful question.
\nGod bless you, I am...! I don't know all my past karma, (but)
\nin my last birth I might have been a temple musician, playing for
\nthe Gods!<\/p>\n
\"Yes I am...!\"<\/p>\n
Besides his Zouk residency in Singapore, M.S. Maniam also
\nperforms regularly in Jakarta at Musro Nightclub, Hotel Borobudur
\n(021-3842050).<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ms-maniam-the-mystic-disco-drummer-man-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}