Montry Manuel and Daniel Waples talk to Sharang Bhaskaran about their music and how they use recycled objects to create new sounds
As the crowd gathers around him to hear him play, Daniel Waples smiles charmingly at the audience as he takes the stage and tunes his handpan, a queer instrument that looks like two large cymbals welded together to create a sound that sounds very similar to that of a santoor. He is accompanied by Montry Manuel and his percussion kit made of inverted paint buckets, PVC pipes, discarded bottles, junk metallic sheets and water jugs. The music kicks off with what sounds like a DJ set with techno beats, but is all naturally produced by Waples and Manuel and his percussion kit. The music has a heavy techno and dubstep feel to it, actually makes very little use of electronic enhancements.
Thaalavattam and Daniel played in India for the first time in Bangalore in January 2016 and their performance left the crowd longing for more. Their electrifying collaboration is the flavour for the season and their much awaited tour this summer will be the next leap for this beautiful organic curation.
Waples, a street musician from london, has been performing since the age of 11. He first started playing the handpan nine years ago in 2007 and has since performed extensively around the world having performed in 50 countries. “My instrument is acoustic and up until recently, I have only played it as an acoustic, but I have started experimenting with pickups to go through a signal change. I’ve also been experimenting with a lot of different types of sound effects,” he says. The musician does not like to box his music into genres and believes in creating music that sounds good. “Personally, I don’t like to play just one type of music. So I play a little bit of acoustic, some electronic, you know, to mix it up. So we can sound like dubstep, reggae, or any other stuff. You could say its like organic trance,” he adds.
Thaalavattam was formed in 2012 by Montry Manuel and means ‘a circle of rhythm’ in Malayalam. From his first job as an office assistant, he went on to become a successful art director at an advertising agency and then left it all to play the drums for folk fusion band Swarathma.
Thaalavattam aims to inspire people to reuse, reduce and upcycle in fun, creative ways. Montry’s vision is to do whatever possible to clean up the waste that is plaguing India. The musical instruments he uses in his performances are mostly created by his team of artists and is constantly evolving. Mixed with electronically sampled sounds, he creates music that is immersive and entertaining.
Montry says, “It might look like a pile of junk put together, which is what it really is. I take plastic bottles, paint buckets and pipes to the next level by creating music out of them. It can’t be classified into a genre. It is more world music style but I’m also fusing electronic sound with junk percussion. At the end of the day, I showcase artistic value from things we discard as junk.”
Thaalavattam has become a well-known name in the new age music circuit and has collaborated with artistes ranging from dancers, choreographers, rappers to Hindustani and Carnatic musicians as well as international musicians and has been part of audio-visual projects. “Thaalavattam goes beyond music too. I create other objects out of junk, like seats made of tyres, pen holders made from car filters, clocks made from wine bottles, and lampshades made from clothes and wood. It just goes to show that anything is possible. It is a big movement and we are expanding gradually,” he explains.
Manuel, who dreamed of becoming a musician ever since he was a child, developed an interest in designing from a young age. “I listened to my father’s instruction and picked up a skill. That is how I took to designing. However, my first job was as an office boy in a computer hardware company getting chai for my bosses and delivering letters. I didn’t have a degree and in India it is all about marks. But, I had the freedom to decide what I wanted to do and my parents backed me. My dad is also a hands-on person and has been a big influence in my life,” he recalls.
His guru, the Kochi-based drummer Jerry Peters was another major influence on him. “Though I was with him for only six months, I learnt a lot from him. He taught me to be rooted. When I moved to Bengaluru, I was in the advertising field for almost 12 years. That is when I realised I wasn’t doing what I really wanted. By then I had joined Swarathma that went big and soon it was a choice I had to make between designing and music. I put in my papers and went fulltime. I played with them for seven years. But then I got bored soon and monotony set in,” Manuel says.
By then Montry had travelled the world and was deeply inspired by street musicians in the UK. “I collected junk from my neighbour and the inverted paint bucket was my first instrument. Being a designer, I didn’t want to stop there. I also wanted to create something. I started developing a percussion set — with tube pipes, paint buckets, water jugs — moving from simple sets to complex – to create my own instruments. Soon I will be using industrial waste material to make stringed instruments.”
Montry believes that the audience is the most important part of his performances. “I want people to be awestruck that you can make sounds from all this,” he remarks. He add, “I’m heading into a space of creating sound from anything and everything. And I want them to join me in seeing their surroundings differently.”
looking ahead, the artiste says he doesn’t plan to stop. “It is a new movement and style and for many people, it is an eye opener. So it is bound to grow. I will continue to keep developing new instruments,” he declares confidently.