Mridangist Sumesh Narayanan debuts his solo rhythm venture

Percussionist Sumesh Narayanan presented his first solo TGID in Chennai

“It’s hard not to move to a rhythmic groove,” says percussionist Sumesh Narayanan. After all, he has been exploring the art of drumming for over a decade.

It was exactly 10 years ago that he joined popular playback singer Haricharan Seshadri, along with fellow artistes Ravi G, Aalaap Raju, Raghavasimhan Sankaranarayanan and Vikram Rozario at Kamaraj Arangam to present Haricharan’s ‘GrooviDa’. 

Perhaps, that’s what inspired him — many kutcheris and even a movie later — to engage with rhythm in his own distinct way. Recently, he debuted his solo act, ‘To groove is divine’, at Chennai’s Medai - the Stage.

This was not the first time Sumesh has tried to look beyond the routine rhythm. Fans of his know him as the rugged percussionist from IndoSoul, he would make heads bob and hands sway with his beats that often stem from complex sollus, reflecting his 24-year-long training in mridangam.

But this was the first time he took the stage alone, a departure from a kutcheri set up, exploring a host of audio-visual elements of performance while entertaining the audience with his own juxtaposition: mridangam against cajon.

“As a mridangist, I have been trained to produce sounds with both my hands. Intrigued by the cajon, I started playing it with my left hand and the mridangam with my right and was overjoyed with how well the two fused. The cajon provided me with a rounded rich bass sound, while the characteristic mridangam sound was kept intact. After discovering this unique combination, I wanted to make it mine,” says Sumesh. 

Collaborating with a team of technicians, some for the first time and one, an old friend, Sumesh says TGID is a product of all his previous collaborations and the vocabulary he has amassed along the way, things that have helped him evolve into programming, arranging and composing art.