Introduction: What Is Damaru?

Damaru is a Singaporean Indian folk drumming ensemble that promotes pan-Indian identity and Indian folk drumming in the city-state. Damaru is a small hourglass-shaped drum associated with the Hindu god Shiva. The term also refers to “noise” or “sound” (The University of Madras 1924–1936:1755). To promote pan-Indian identity and Indian folk drumming, Damaru endeavours to make Indian folk drumming accessible to all and to create a greater appreciation for the art of Indian folk drumming through educational outreach and public engagement.

Damaru performs on folk percussion instruments with no attachment to a region in India (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). The ensemble’s instrumentation comprises tasha, puneri ḍhol, and nasik ḍhol from Mahārāshtra, Bhangrā ḍhol, chimta cymbals from Punjab, the kachi ḍhol from Rajasthan and Karnataka, the ceṇṭa and the elathālam from Kerala, and the paṟai, tavil, and uṟumi from Tamil Nādu. This inclusive instrumentation reflects the South Asian linguistic diversity within the Singaporean Indian community.

Figure 1.

Provenance of Drums used by Damaru (photographs courtesy of Damaru; Maps Data: Google, ©2022).

Figure 2.

Damaru––Types of Drums (left to right): Puneri Ḍhol, Tasha, Eḷatāḷam Cymbals, Kachi Ḍhol, Nasik Ḍhol, Tasha, Punjabi Bhangrā Ḍhol, Tasha, Chimta Cymbals, Puneri Ḍhol (photograph courtesy of Damaru).

Damaru welcomes people from all walks of life, ages, genders, and ethnicities to join the ensemble. Like any community drumming ensemble, it is a casual and inclusive ensemble emphasising social networking (see Higgins and Willingham Reference Higgins and Willingham2017). While some members are advanced drummers taking private lessons from Thiru Akshara, the founder and leader of Damaru, most members do not need to attain high proficiency in the Indian folk percussion instruments to participate in performances. As of 2018, Damaru comprised forty drummers ages five to sixty-four. The gender composition was approximately 45% female and 55% male. According to Thiru, most members were Indians, and there was one Malay. The members were predominantly students, public school teachers, and working professionals, many of whom did not have a background in performing Indian music or Indian folk drumming.

Damaru’s early performances were at Sri Ruthra Kaliamman Hindu temple, where Thiru’s grandfather served as a temple committee member. He and two of his friends formed a tasha bhangrā drum trio comprising a tasha kettle drum and two Punjab bhangrā ḍhol barrel drums. The trio regularly performed for non-religious community events and weddings, playing rhythmic patterns from the popular bhangrā dance.Footnote ¹

As their membership grew, Thiru decided to expand the drum trio to a larger Indian folk drumming ensemble:

Thiru consulted his percussionist colleagues on ways he could realise his aspirations with a large Indian folk drumming ensemble. He revealed that at the initial stage:

Finally, Thiru decided to develop a pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble modelled after an established Malay percussion group known as Nadi Singapura (see Figure 3). Nadi Singapura performs on drums from different regions of the Malay Archipelago. Its mission is to uphold, revive, and celebrate Malay traditional music. Drummers are predominantly males between mid-teens and thirty-five years old. Nadi Singapura has successfully obtained state grants, including the National Arts Council Seed GrantFootnote ² in 2013 and National Arts Council Major Company Scheme GrantFootnote ³ from 2016 to 2019 (Lizeray and Lum Reference Lizeray and Lum2019:73).

Figure 3.

Nadi Singapura (photograph courtesy of Nadi Singapura).

Despite using Nadi Singapura as his model, Thiru has a different vision for Damaru. While Nadi Singapura seeks to recruit Malay youths into their group, Damaru opens its door to anyone interested in Indian folk percussion instruments. Nadi Singapura founders established the community drumming group as a platform for Malay youths to learn about the Malay Archipelago percussion instruments and their Malay heritage. They also hope to empower the Singaporean Malay identity through the ensemble (Lizeray and Lum Reference Lizeray and Lum2019:73). Similarly, Damaru uses drumming as a platform to promote the Singaporean pan-Indian identity. However, it focuses on educating the public about the diversity within the Singaporean Indian community and the different types of Indian folk percussion instruments.

Damaru’s endeavour to engage the Singapore public with Indian folk drumming has earned them performance opportunities at grassroots cultural events. From 2015 to 2016, Damaru performed at the Esplanade outdoor theatre, arts festivals, community centres, an Indian expatriate community event, and guest appearance in a university Tamil theatre production. Subsequently, within the first two years of its founding, Damaru became a highly sought-after Indian drum ensemble representing the Singaporean Indian community at major state-sponsored cultural events. Since 2017, Damaru has regularly performed at the Chingay street parade,Footnote ⁴ National Day celebrations, the Singapore Indian Heritage Festival, and the Singa Drum Gaia Festival. Figure 4 shows the major performances Damaru participated in from 2015 to 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic stopped most of Damaru’s activities in 2020.

Figure 4.

Damaru Major Performances 2015–2019 (table compiled by author).

How did Damaru, a new Singaporean Indian musical practice, find its niche in Singapore’s multicultural milieu and become an emblem of the Singaporean Indian community within the first two years of its founding? In this article, I examine how Damaru navigates and carves a niche in Singapore’s multicultural milieu with the concept of a pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble, and how Thiru and Damaru members create new artistic products to engage the diverse demographics of the globalised city-state. By analysing Damaru’s rhythmic compositions, one can understand how Damaru has used the efficacies of drumming, the versatility of sequential arrangement format, and the mixing of Indian folk drums and rhythmic patterns to create rhythmic compositions that connect people of different sociocultural backgrounds. These moves have enabled them to win state grants and performance opportunities at state-sponsored events. Damaru is an example of how musicians use music or drumming to achieve an agenda, echoing Alan Mariam’s (Reference Marriam1964) assertion that “music is used in certain situations and becomes a part of them, but it may or may not also have a deeper function.” Damaru is neither a generic type of traditional Indian folk drumming ensemble, nor did Thiru and Damaru members replicate the rhythmic compositions of traditional Indian folk drumming repertoire entirely. Nonetheless, Damaru has successfully used its unique rhythmic compositions to connect with its audiences, and the rhythmic compositions have since become Damaru’s specialities. I will discuss how Damaru creates its unique rhythmic compositions in the following sections.

Rhythmic Materials for Damaru’s Compositions

When Thiru consulted Nadi Singapura’s Riduan Zalani about his aspiration to expand his drum trio, Zalani suggested that he make research trips to India to learn drumming from expertsFootnote ⁵ and document rhythmic materials from different Indian regions.Footnote ⁶ Thiru took Zalani’s advice and embarked on several fruitful research trips that enabled him to document and learn rhythmic materials. He then used the rhythmic materials to compose Damaru’s rhythmic compositions.

Damaru’s rhythmic compositions are composed of traditional folk rhythms borrowed from Tamil Nādu, Rajasthan, Mahārāshtra, Gujarat, and Punjab.Footnote ⁷ This juxtaposition of regional rhythmic patterns is a Singaporean innovation and does not occur in most generic folk drum ensembles in India. While Thiru and Damaru members have created new rhythmic patterns, rāngu, maharaja, and garba are three common rhythmic patterns in Damaru’s rhythmic compositions. Rāngu is a folk rhythm from Tamil Nādu that accompany folk dances such as the karagaṭṭam dance.Footnote ⁸ The garba, on the other hand, is a rhythm of the popular garba dance from Gujarat, a state on the West Coast of India. The maharaja rhythm is associated with the ḍhol tasha ensembles and Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mahārāshtra,Footnote ⁹ a neighbouring state to Gujarat.

During a performance, the ḍhol drummers play a supporting role by drumming the rhythmic pattern repeatedly. On the other hand, the tasha, paṟai, and ceṇṭa drummers may choose to perform complex rhythmic patterns over the groove. The leader, usually a tasha drummer, will signal (represented in dotted boxes in Figure 5) to the ensemble when they decide to transition into the following rhythm. The ensemble plays the arudi, the cadential rhythmic pattern to mark structural points and the ending of most rhythmic compositions of South India (Nelson Reference Nelson2008:57, Reference Nelson2019) (see Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Damaru’s Rhythmic Composition Structure (transcribed by author).

Damaru’s rhythmic compositions are always a work in progress. As an Indian percussion aficionado, Thiru takes folk drumming lessons from expert drummers such as paṟai frame drum master Manimaran in Tamil Nādu via video conference platform. He also learns the South Indian karṇāṭak rhythmic system under mṛdaṅgam player Guru Skreekanth at the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. He continues to travel to various regions of India in search of new materials and ideas to compose new rhythmic compositions for Damaru.

Damaru’s Rhythmic Compositions in Different Performance Contexts

In the preceding section, I have shown where Thiru has acquired the rhythmic materials and the religious rituals or folk-dance genres traditionally associated with them. I have also shown that the standard sequential arrangement format is the basis of Damaru’s rhythmic compositions. Instead of adopting one of the generic folk drumming ensembles and their repertoire from India, Thiru has decided to create a singular pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble by including folk drums and rhythmic materials from different regions of India. Yet, I would suggest that Damaru’s rhythmic compositions are the primary factors that have made Damaru’s performances appeal to Damaru members and audiences.

Using a community performance and Damaru Bhajey as examples, I would like to analyse how Damaru members have created a rhythmic composition for each performance context. I choose a community performance because such performances are short (usually ten minutes or less), have a standard performance format, and involve a relatively small ensemble of no more than ten drummers. Moreover, community performances are excellent platforms for Damaru to present Indian folk drumming to audiences of diverse sociocultural and ethnic backgrounds. Damaru Bhajey, on the other hand, is Damaru’s first theatre production held in a public theatre. It features elaborate stage light effects, multimedia stage backdrop, and a rock band. The audience was predominantly members of the Singaporean Indian community.

Community Performances

The community performance rhythmic composition I am analysing is from a Chinese dumpling festival celebration in June 2019 (Figure 6). The performance involved a kachi ḍhol, a nashik ḍhol two tashas, and a pair of elathālam cymbals.Footnote ¹⁰ On the stage, the leader began by counting aloud the beats for Mahārāshtra maharaja rhythm, the first rhythmic pattern of the composition, during which the tasha drummers improvised a rhythm over the rhythmic groove played repeatedly by the rest of the ensemble. When the leader decided to transition to a new rhythm, he signalled the ensemble and uttered the following rhythm’s name aloud. The ensemble stopped on cue, allowing the leader to play a tasha drum solo. The ensemble began to play the following rhythmic pattern (a popular rhythmic pattern) when the leader gave another signal. The leader repeated the above steps when the ensemble transitioned from the popular rhythmic pattern to the Gujarat garba rhythmic pattern. Finally, the leader signalled the ensemble to play the cadential arudi rhythm near the end of the rhythmic composition by playing a rhythmic pattern six times over the groove (see Figure 7).

Figure 6.

Damaru at the Braddell Heights Dumpling Festival (photograph courtesy of Damaru).

Figure 7.

Damaru’s Rhythmic Composition for the Braddell Heights Dumpling Festival.

Damaru Bhajey

Damaru held its first theatre production, Damaru Bhajey, at the National Library Drama Centre, a 615-seat theatre, on 13 January 2018. This one-hundred-and-twenty-minute programme featured newly arranged rhythmic compositions that fused Indian folk drumming with a rock band, and a new choreography that synthesised movements from bharatanāṭyam and silambam Tamil stick fighting. Because of the overwhelming support, Damaru sold all tickets as early as November 2017. Figure 8 shows a publicity poster of Damaru Bhajey. Instead of analysing the whole concert, I will analyse Sodukku Mela, a famous Tamil film song, to show how Thiru and his team created a rhythmic composition for a segment of the theatre production.

Figure 8.

Official Poster of Damaru Bhajey (courtesy of Damaru Singapore).

Sodukku Mela

Sodukku Mela is a famous Tamil film song from the film Thaanaa Serndha Koottam. In Damaru’s arrangement,Footnote ¹¹ the synthesiser began the song by playing an A#-G#-G-G# motif. As the sound of the synthesiser faded into the background and gradually stopped, two male singers from the rock band started singing a non-metred melody resembling the ālāpana Footnote ¹² using the syllables “ye” and “na.” Then, one of the singers sang the theme of the song in metre using “ta,” “da,” and “na” syllables, setting the tempo for the entrance of the uṟumi mēḷam. The uṟumi mēḷam Footnote ¹³ began by playing an opening rhythmic pattern in sync with the singer and began the rāngu rhythmic pattern when the singer sang the first section of the song. The uṟumi mēḷam section of the song lasts for about two minutes. At the end of the uṟumi mēḷam section, the synthesiser resumed the A#-G#-G-G# motif. At this point, the uṟumi mēḷam drummers cleared the stage, making way for the larger ḍhol tasha ensemble.

The singer sang the song’s chorus as the ḍhol tasha drummers entered the stage. The singing gradually faded into the background when the full ḍhol tasha ensemble was ready. Then, a solo tasha drummer took centre stage by playing improvised rhythmic patterns until Thiru signals the ḍhol tasha ensemble to start the maharaja rhythmic pattern. After about a minute into the maharaja rhythmic pattern, Thiru signals the rock band to join the ḍhol tasha ensemble. Interestingly, in this section, the rock band played a supporting role as they provided the down beats to maintain the tempo for the ḍhol tasha ensemble. On Thiru’s cue, the ensemble switched to a variation of the Tamil Nādu rāngu rhythmic pattern. Near the end of the song, the ensemble gradually sped up and gained intensity until Thiru signalled them to stop (see Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Damaru Bhajey––Sodukku Mela.

My analysis of the two rhythmic compositions suggests that Damaru has maintained the sequential arrangement format in both rhythmic compositions. During a rhythmic sequence, the ḍhol drummers will play the rhythmic pattern repeatedly while the tasha drummers will improvise a rhythmic pattern over the rhythmic cycle. To bridge two rhythmic segments, the leader will signal the ensemble with a body gesture and utter the following rhythmic pattern aloud nearing the end of the current rhythmic pattern. When the ensemble stops playing, the leader will play a brief solo on the tasha drum to transition to the following rhythmic pattern and signal the ensemble to start the new rhythmic sequence at his or her discretion.

Damaru’s formula of creating rhythmic compositions in a sequential arrangement is ubiquitous among Indian folk drumming ensembles. For example, the Mahārāshtra ḍhol tasha ensembles’ rhythmic compositions comprise five rhythmic patterns borrowed from various folk music genres of Mahārāshtra. They perform each rhythmic pattern in a medley, taking cues from their leaders at transition points. The Mahārāshtra ḍhol tasha ensembles are large ensembles that usually have about six hundred drummers. They take cues from leaders stationed at different locations in the group. The leaders, who have memorised the rhythmic composition, will signal a transition by showing the stop hand signal in the air. Then, an eight-count tasha drum interlude will begin as soon as the ḍhols stop playing. Afterwards, the leaders will give a hand signal of the number assigned to a rhythmic pattern (usually one to five), and the entire ensemble will start the rhythmic pattern after the tasha drum interlude (Manuel Reference Manuel2013, Reference Manuel2015). Like the Mahārāshtra ḍhol tasha ensembles, the Indo-Trinidadian ḍhol tassa ensemblesFootnote ¹⁴ also perform the rhythmic patterns known as hands in rhythmic sequences. However, the Indo-Trinidadian ḍhol tassa ensembles’ hands are rhythmic patterns borrowed from North Indian nagāra drumming, West African drumming, steelpan, and calypso (see Ballengee Reference Ballengee, Gounder, Brereton, Egger and Neus2022:105–106 and Manuel Reference Manuel2015:184–214). The Indo-Trinidadian ḍhol tassa ensemble leader (usually a tassa drummer) will signal a transition by playing a sonic cue known as tal on his or her drum at transition points. The ensemble immediately switches to the next hand after hearing the tal (Manuel Reference Manuel2014, Reference Manuel2015). In Tamil Nādu, the basic structure of performing the paṟai frame drum dance or paṟaiaṭṭam comprises four sections: the introduction, circle formation, line formation, and the conclusion. Each section is composed of a series of rhythmic patterns known as aḍis, which accompanies a set of dance movements in a section. The paṟai frame drummers will play the maṭṭṟa aḍi [sic] or the changing pattern, a rhythmic pattern that signals a transition between two rhythmic segments at transition points (see Sherinian Reference Sherinian and Sherinian2011).

Despite the ubiquity of sequential arrangement format in different Indian folk drumming traditions, the most significant difference between the generic types of Indian folk drumming ensembles and Damaru is how drummers transition from one rhythmic segment to the next. Unlike the ensembles I have discussed in the preceding paragraph, Damaru simplifies the transition process by replacing the rhythmically complex bridge rhythmic pattern with the drum leader’s verbal, visual, and sonic cues. During a performance, the leader will always stand facing the ensemble while giving cues, resembling a western symphony orchestra conductor. Unlike a conductor, he or she must adapt the ensemble according to different situations, such as audience responses. They must be creative and think on their feet to ensure variety and appropriate pacing so that the drummers and audiences are carried along by the ensemble’s momentum, energy, and sense of flow during Damaru’s performances (see Higgins and Willingham Reference Higgins and Willingham2017). In my analysis of the two rhythmic compositions, I have highlighted that Damaru has used different Indian folk drums and rhythmic materials and adapted the sequential arrangement format to create their rhythmic compositions. How did these strategies make Damaru an artistic product of globalised Singapore?

Damaru, an Artistic Product of Globalised Singapore?

Prior to the formation of Damaru, members of the Singaporean Indian community had developed new Indian musical ensembles, including Rudra, the Vedic metal band (see Dairianathan Reference Dairianathan2009, Reference Dairianathan2012, Reference Dairianathan2013), Singapore Indian orchestra and choir (see Tan Reference Tan and Ramnarine2018), and uṟumi mēḷam (see Lai Reference Lai2020, Reference Lai2021; Sykes Reference Sykes2015). Yet, Damaru, the newest Singaporean Indian ensemble, has appealed to audiences of all ages and sociocultural backgrounds, considering their participation in high-profile state events and sold-out performances.

Katz and Katz (Reference Katz and Katz2015:158) have articulated that one must consider multiculturalism and globalism when appreciating artistic products of different cultures. While multiculturalism emphasises the preservation of identity because it “attributes more stability, more coherence, and more stringent boundaries to cultural groups.” Globalism, on the other hand, encourages mixing, matching, and borrowing. These processes create “a decontextualised space in which words lose their meaning even while we are asked to assume and respect the integrity of the artefacts’ culture of origin” (ibid.). To put Katz and Katz’s perspective into an ethnomusicological context, I would like to refer to an earlier publication by Nathan Hesselink. Hesselink (Reference Hesselink2004) has demonstrated how musicians of the samul nori, a South Korean contemporary percussion genre, legitimised and maintained the musical practice. They preserve the traditional p’ungmul drumming techniques while innovating the samul nori performances. Hesselink argued that preservation and innovation, as demonstrated by samul nori, are crucial to making a musical practice a tradition (ibid.).

Like the samul nori, Damaru has legitimised its brand as a Singaporean pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble by preserving traditional folk drumming techniques and featuring Indian folk drums and rhythmic materials in their performances. Thiru and Damaru members also constantly innovate the ensemble by mixing and borrowing rhythmic materials and sounds from different regions of India and popular music in their rhythmic compositions. In the Singaporean context, Damaru’s moves to highlight the pan-Indian identity play into the ethos of the Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others quadripartite multicultural paradigm (hereafter the CMIO paradigm), which emphasises racial and cultural differences while maintaining racial harmony. To understand how Damaru uses the idea of a pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble to promote the Singaporean pan-Indian identity, we need to understand the CMIO paradigm and its influence on local performing arts.

From the racial quota of residents occupying a public housing buildingFootnote ¹⁵ to the music curriculum for public schools, the CMIO paradigm has been the basis for most government policies. The paradigm has successfully maintained interracial harmony and is a core element of Singaporean identity. As Singapore president Halimah Yacob asserts:

Singapore’s CMIO paradigm celebrates and highlights racial differences while maintaining racial harmony. Metaphorically, it resembles a salad bowl (Weiss Reference Weiss, Wolf, Monson and Orja2018) or rojak, a popular fruit and vegetable salad dish in Malaysia and Singapore (Chua Reference Chua1995, Reference Chua2003; Lizeray and Lum Reference Lizeray and Lum2019:27–31; Rocha Reference Rocha2011; Velayutham Reference Velayutham2007:3). Through the president’s speech, we have learned that the Singapore government is not ready to abandon the CMIO paradigm because it is an important signifier of the Singaporean identity. As the population diversifies because of globalisation, local music practitioners have sought to create artistic works that could engage audiences from different sociocultural backgrounds and nationalities while maintaining the CMIO paradigm. This phenomenon has divided music practitioners into two opposing groups. The first group is adamant about eschewing the CMIO paradigm, and they created works based on their creativity and aesthetic preferences. The second group, on the other hand, espoused the CMIO paradigm and privileged western art music “standards” in their artistic works. Such practitioners are more likely to receive state support through grants and performance opportunities (Lizeray and Lum Reference Lizeray and Lum2019:19–25; Tan Reference Tan and Ramnarine2018). Damaru belongs to the second group because, as a new ensemble, they need financial support and performance opportunities. Yet, Damaru members have also found ways to insert creativity into their performances. However, why did Thiru and his team choose to establish an Indian folk drumming ensemble despite many other choices of traditional Indian folk performing arts? How does the efficacy of drumming help Damaru members achieve their aspirations?

Drumming encourages personal enjoyment and community bonding. In Singapore, the People’s Association, a government statutory board, has endorsed the community drum circle as one of the activities that promote racial harmony and arts in the community. Drum circle participants have shared that they enjoyed drumming because it is an easy-to-follow group-based activity that encourages bonding with fellow participants, and they appreciate the opportunity to perform at community events (see Onishi Reference Onishi2014). In Canada, Indigenous people living in urban areas have participated in Indigenous drum circles to “re-member,” “re-connect,” and “re-claim” their indigenous identities and culture (see Laurila and Willingham Reference Laurila and Willingham2017). In East London, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama initiated the intergenerational music project, bringing together primary school students and seniors over fifty. The project has proven that drumming and music-making encourage intergenerational bonding (see Varvarigou et al. Reference Varvarigou, Creech, Hallam and McQueen2011).

To the audience valorised in the generic types of Indian folk drumming ensembles, Damaru is a new or unfamiliar ensemble. However, delving deeper into the musical nuances and performance practices, one can observe that Thiru’s effort in preserving traditional Indian folk drumming techniques and rhythmic patterns made Damaru more traditional than most Indian drumming groups in Singapore. As I have shown in another study (Lai Reference Lai2016, Reference Lai2020), uṟumi mēḷam artists learned drumming techniques from recordings and their Malaysian counterparts. They have created new drumming techniques based on pragmatic factors, such as drum strokes that can produce the loudest drum sounds with minimal effort from the drummer. Unlike uṟumi mēḷam, Thiru went to India, learned the proper playing techniques for the drums from expert drummers, and taught Damaru drummers accordingly.

Thiru also embarked on research trips to India to document and learn about the rhythmic patterns and their connections to traditional dances, ceremonies, and rituals. Back in Singapore, he ensured that Damaru members played the rhythmic patterns with little or no variations and understood their sociocultural functions (Thiru, pers. comm., 17 August Reference Thiru2018). The uṟumi mēḷam drummers, on the other hand, learned the rhythmic patterns from Tamil folk music recordings and their Malaysian counterparts. However, instead of learning about the traditional functions of the rhythmic patterns and performing them with no or minimal variations, uṟumi mēḷam drummers endeavoured to show collective virtuosity and improvisation. One such example is the drummers’ ability to collectively perform a rhythmic pattern at a very fast tempo, and those who are up to it are encouraged to improvise on it (see Lai Reference Lai2016).

Apart from learning Indian folk drumming techniques and rhythmic materials, most Damaru members joined the ensemble for personal interest and enjoyment. Veteran Damaru members Sangeetha, Nanthinii, and Kanesh are in their twenties. Sangeetha is the manager of Damaru. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and media studies from the National University of Singapore. Besides managing Damaru, she has used her media and communication expertise to help Thiru develop marketing materials to publicise the group. She also served as the co-producer for the Damaru Bhajey theatre production. Nanthinii is a graduate of the National University of Singapore who teaches the Tamil language at a primary school. She primarily plays the puneri ḍhol. Kanesh is figuratively the young brother among the three of them. At the time of our conversation, he was a trainee at the Air Transport Training College of Singapore. Kanesh is an experienced drummer who plays the tavil for a local bhajan group and occasionally for an uṟumi mēḷam. In Damaru, he plays various technically challenging drums, including tasha and ceṇṭa. When asked about their reasons for joining Damaru, Sangeetha and Kanesh immediately answered that they have a deep interest in Indian folk percussion instruments and enjoy the fun of drumming (Sangeetha, pers. comm., 29 July Reference Sangeetha2018; Kanesh, pers. comm., 29 July Reference Kanesh2018). Conversely, Nanthinii joined Damaru because she likes to explore new activities to determine where her interests lie. Nanthinii stayed with Damaru because she found her passion in Indian folk drumming and found a sense of belonging in the group:

In the preceding paragraphs, I have presented how Damaru used drumming to achieve their aspiration of promoting pan-Indian identity and Indian drumming in Singapore. It is no wonder why Thiru’s decision to establish a pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble is a calculated strategy. Indian folk drumming is an easy-to-learn group-based activity that promotes personal enjoyment and bonding among the Damaru members, appealing to novice and experienced drummers, echoing the assertions of Onishi (Reference Onishi2014), Laurila and Willingham (Reference Laurila and Willingham2017), and Varvarigou, Creech, Hallam, and McQueen (Reference Varvarigou, Creech, Hallam and McQueen2011) that drumming can promote personal enjoyment and social bonding.

Damaru announces its effort to preserve drum-playing techniques and Indian folk rhythmic patterns and its diverse membership demography in the introductory speeches that precede Damaru’s performances and workshops. Such speeches inform audiences about Damaru’s brand as a Singaporean pan-Indian folk drumming ensemble and its determination to preserve Indian drumming and promote diversity within the group. However, it is unlikely that all audiences will appreciate the information, considering that Damaru’s audience is from different ethnic and sociocultural backgrounds. Instead, Damaru’s rhythmic compositions are arguably the assets that have helped the ensemble’s performances gain a broader audience.

Globalisation has contributed to the popularisation of traditional ensembles, and most discourses about popularising traditional music focus on sociocultural and political factors. For example, in Mainland China, the Twelve Girls Band is an effort to popularise Chinese instrumental ensembles to engage international audiences (see Yang and Saffle Reference Yang and Saffle2010). The Korean government invested in popularising the gugak, Korean national music, to appeal to Korean youths (see So Reference So2015). Moreover, the popularisation of Texas-Mexican conjunto music is a way international conjunto musicians express their individual identities while articulating their sense of belonging in the conjunto musical community (see Bauer Reference Bauer2016). The popularisation of the dongang sayang, a Peranakan song genre, as Lee (Reference Lee and Soon2021:217) proposed, is a move to “mediate the dialectics between the local and the global in a nationalising context of Singapore.” The Singapore government has made Bunga Sayang, a popular song inspired by dongang sayang, an official Singaporean community song because of its appeal to Singaporeans. This move by the Singapore government is an example that indicates their reconsideration of Singaporean multiculturalism and national values (ibid.).

Ingrid Monson (Reference Monson1999) has argued that riffs, grooves, and repetitions are elements that can help a musical genre circulate to a broader audience. In the case of Damaru, what is more significant, in addition to grooves and repetitions, is the versatility of the sequential arrangement format practised in numerous drumming genres globally. To recapitulate: Damaru’s rhythmic compositions are composed of rhythmic patterns arranged into sequences. During each sequence, drummers will play a rhythmic groove repeatedly until the leader signals a transition to a new segment. The versatility of sequential arrangement allows Damaru members to juxtapose the rhythmic patterns from different regions in India and insert rhythms borrowed from popular music. These processes encourage Damaru members to create rhythmic compositions based on aesthetics relevant to the context of globalised Singapore.

The popularisation of Damaru is not only about fusing a rock band into the ensemble or inserting popular rhythmic materials into performances. It is also how the Damaru drum leader renders the rhythmic composition according to the audience’s response amid performing the rhythmic composition. Damaru members depend on their leader’s verbal, visual, and drum cues to transition from one segment to the next. My analysis has shown that the Damaru leader has the agency to determine the rhythmic composition’s start, transition, and end by yelling the name of the rhythmic pattern, giving body gestures such as a nod, and playing rhythmic cues on his or her drum. Depending on the audience’s response to a performance, the leader can respond to the audience by prolonging a rhythmic segment by delaying the cues when the audience engages with the rhythmic pattern. They can also shorten a rhythmic segment by giving transition cues earlier when the audience lacks enthusiasm. He or she can also invite the audience to participate by clapping along with the rhythmic groove or initiate a call and response segment between the ensemble and the audience. Occasionally, the leader would invite a group member to improvise a short solo during an interlude or over a groove in a segment. Such interactive and participatory activities make Damaru’s performances lively and fun for all audiences and Damaru members.

Damaru’s Rise to Prominence

How did Damaru become an official Indian musical practice in Singapore alongside Indian rāga-based musicsFootnote ¹⁷ (e.g., karṇāṭak and Hindustānī musical traditions)? In the preceding sections, I have shown how Thiru created and developed Damaru and how Damaru uses drumming to claim and promote the Singaporean pan-Indian identity. The ensemble also takes advantage of the versatility of the sequential arrangement format to engage the audience of diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Here, I offer my perspective on why Damaru can achieve equal recognition as Indian rāga-based musics.

My analysis of Damaru Bhajay has shown that Damaru members have created new artistic products by enlisting strategies, including choreographing new dance movements and fusing rhythmic compositions with a rock band. To paraphrase Hesselink (Reference Hesselink2004), in the context of Damaru, Thiru’s effort to preserve traditional drumming techniques and rhythmic patterns while innovating the rhythmic compositions is essential to making Damaru a living musical tradition. Damaru’s capability to adapt to social and cultural changes through their rhythmic compositions has enabled them to keep up with Singapore’s ever-changing multicultural milieu and demography, demonstrating Lee’s (Reference Lee2009) assertion that practitioners use their musical practices as means to respond to sociocultural changes.

As Damaru built a stellar performance portfolio, it caught the attention of state agencies and has received invitations to perform at major state-sponsored community events representing the Singaporean Indian community. Such opportunities helped Damaru receive endorsements from state agencies, including the National Arts Council and the Indian Heritage Centre. With the endorsements, Damaru has successfully obtained state funding for their projects, enabling them to create even more new artistic products that keep them relevant to the multicultural milieu of the globalised city-state. As the membership of Damaru grew further, Thiru left his full-time job to focus on developing Damaru. Subsequently, he has become a highly sought-after Indian folk drumming master. He has regularly received invitations to conduct Indian folk drumming masterclasses at public schools, local universities, local cultural heritage centres, and the Esplanade, Singapore’s premium performing arts venue. As of 2021, Damaru has rebranded itself as Singapore’s school of traditional Indian drumming,Footnote ¹⁸ offering Indian folk drumming classes to students of all ages. It is also the first institution in Southeast Asia to offer paṟai frame drum classes and established the first paṟai ensemble in Singapore. In 2022, the Singapore Tourism Board featured Damaru in their Visit Singapore promotional videoFootnote ¹⁹ alongside Javanese wayang kulit, Chinese street opera, and lion dance, affirming damaru as an officially-recognised Singaporean Indian performing group.