Tamte/Deathbeat

So a major TN politician rolled thru Coimbatore the other day to great fanfare, as is the norm over here. I came out to watch the giant spectacle/motorcade and was treated to something awesome- a group of locals playing a traditional South Indian style of music, called several different things depending who you ask, including Tamte or Deathbeat. It was a group of 10-15 men playing various types of drums in unison, accompanied by people whistling and dancing. I found lots of videos of it on the ‘ol youtube but none really capture how awesome it is. I think part of the reason it is so difficult to capture is that part of the experience is that you literally FEEL it through the powerful reverberations of the drums (especially the bass drums), so by watching and listening these videos you only getting part of the senses involved, unless, of course you’re listening on a stereo that goes to ‘11’.

My friend here said it’s impossible to listen to this type of music without being moved to dance. I personally found this to be the case, as did this guy above.

The whole experience left me wanting more. I asked- when can I see more of this? Unfortunately, it seems this music is only busted out for special occasions, like when a politician comes to town or for a major religious festival, like Ganesh Chaturthi, where the above video was taken while parading a Ganesh idol around town.

I had heard this type of music a couple times during my travels this year and last to India but never knew what to call it til now. I had posted the above video on my blog a while ago but now understand it’s Tamte music with someone singing over it!

Now I just gotta figure out how join one of their bands!!!