A song for the God of rhythm

Creating a unique song for Ganesha was a special treat for musician Taufiq Qureshi and his band, Mumbai Stamp. “We were thrilled to create this track as Ganesha is considered the father of rhythm. Combining traditional Indian rhythms and Ganesha chants, this is a special tribute song for the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi,” says Taufiq.

Talking more about Mumbai Stamp, Taufiq says the inspiration came simply from wanting to do something with the trash he was seeing around. “I saw so much trash just lying around, I thought why not recycle materials and create music from it,” he says. The band, consisting of a total of 25 young drummers, finds their instruments in discarded rubbish dumps and uses them to creates unique rhythmic patterns.

“The latest members of our collection are two broken plastic buckets, taped up and played with used water bottles,” Taufiq explains. This is in addition to the beer barrels, metal grain drums and paint cans that the band is already using. “When we uncover an interesting object, we clean it and find a way to use it in our music,” he says. At performances the band plays a special piece wearing used plastic bags on their hands and clapping to a rhythm. “It produces a beautiful high-end sound, that we like to incorporate in our shows,” Taufiq says. Even as Mumbai Stamp and Taufiq do their bit to creatively reuse trash materials, he is working on a new project to create two-three sounds simultaneously with his voice. “I am experimenting with it here in India for the first time. I want to be able to produce the sound of drums and melody simultaneously with my voice. It’s a work in progress still,” he smiles.

Taufiq feels that even with so much awareness being promoted, you have to urge people to make a change. “Save the environment – it’s ours,” he says. “It’s really nice that DNA’s Eco Ganesha campaign is making a difference. I salute you. Don’t just throw rubbish away, find a way to recycle it,” he adds.