‘Rhythm is life, life is rhythm’, believes Sikandar Mufti, a drummer and percussionist who has been a part of Pakistan’s music community for over 15 years.
Mufti led the session titled ‘A World of Percussion’ on the first day of the Lahore Music Meet (LMM) on Saturday.
The session was more of a demonstrative/interactive session with Mufti demonstrating the different layers in rhythms and drums, which gives the listener the feel of the music.
“The different layers are important as they give you the feel about the rhythm and beats,” Sikandar said, adding that the layers in rhythm are based on mathematics as “there are endless possibilities of the number of times you can divide something” — creating an ambiance that kept the audience hooked.
“Rhythm is something we need to grab on to, as it makes us understand things a little better and gives you the feel of the music,” he said.
During the session, a number of audios from Peter Gabriel, Tito Puente (Timbale player), Herbie Hancock and Fela Kuti were played to give the audience an idea of the different kind of layers and how to ‘find your place in the rhythm’; whether it be outright or in a more subtle way. “Subtle music percussion gives you a sense of urgency and time for your mind to tune in.”
“Playing drums started off as a hobby and then turned into obsession,” Mufti said while talking to Pakistan Today after the session.
He said that he had enjoyed the audience where he could ‘see some smiling faces’.
Mufti’s tactic to interact with the audience kept them hooked as they nodded to the beat of Fela Kuti’s ‘Expensive shit’ and clapped to match the rhythm during the Peter Gabriel song. This was his way of making sure people understood the concept of layers.
‘I was very nervous because I am not used to talking, I am just used to playing the drums,” he said.
The session ended with Sikander Mufti doing what he does best along with Ibrahim Akram and Javed, who are both percussionists and drummers, and Sameer Ahmed who is a bassist. All four of them enthralled the audience with this ‘surprise’ and got a standing ovation from the cheering crowd.
The audience loved the session, especially the performance at the end.
“I thought the session was great, the way Mufti created the tempo and explained about the layers and percussions along with practical demonstrations was a great experience overall,” Alina, a session participant, told Pakistan Today.
Another attendee, Jameel Akhtar said he thought the session was informative and entertaining at the same time, especially the performance at the end.
Shehryar, another participant who gave only his first name, said the “event is an interesting place to educate and build tolerance for people for music along with understanding music”.
Lahore Music Meet Day 2 has a lot more in store, don’t forget to stop by and get your dose of music this year!