Talking drums
Naadro, the popular percussion band @ 15
Naadro: Making percussion a hip thing in Colombo. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
We were serenaded by drumming as we approached the studio of Naadro: a soft thrumming that suddenly broke into a rich medley of beats. We were transported in our minds to many different worlds simultaneously: to a West African village with talking drums, where messages and dance tunes were beaten out amidst huts in jungle; the ‘yak bere’ drum which used to summon the devils at night-time exorcisms Down South; the Peruvian ‘Cajon’ which the colourful people of the green hills of Mesoamerica used in their rituals; and the Conga that, having first come from the African Continent, set hot Latin American blood pulsating…
For Naadro, the popular percussion band, it has been a long journey with these and many other drums – 15 years in which they have made percussion a ‘hip thing’ in Colombo – so much so that no corporate event is complete without a ‘drum gig’.
It all began in 2007 when Rakitha Wickramaratne, fresh out of Royal College, was drawn to those Cinderella instruments which one often dumped in the far back of the stage.
He had learnt music from maestro Piyasara Shilpadipathi, and launched himself into the heady world of ‘drums and cymbals, gongs and rattles’.
Apart from a delightful room packed to the ceiling with curious drums collected from around the world, the main result of his obsession was Naadro, begun with five friends and soon with a second generation or a ‘junior band’.
They were to have a remarkably breezy time of it, confesses Rakitha when asked about ‘challenges’, plain sailing with little trials at first. This however, was because they knew their subject, viz. drums and shakers thoroughly and had the help of seniors like Piyasara and Ravibandu.
All founder members had thorough grounding in Sri Lankan drums, and Rakitha says it is easy to learn any drum in the world if one knew the four main local drums: the yak bere, the geta bere, thammettama and davula.
Rakitha Wickramaratne
Their beats are experimental, one drum talking to the other across desert and jungle; land and sea.
The exotic styles they have woven in with the taut religious beat of vernacular drums include Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, Peruvian and African.
But being an endorser of Latin percussion Rakitha spends more time on Brazilian and Latin.
The first concert they held in 2008 was a turning point and the feedback was overwhelming. It had after all been started as a hobby. From then on there was no shirking and they would gain a reputation as one of the city’s most successful bands.
But their crowning moment was to come in 2017 when to commemorate their tenth year they organised the biggest musical festival ever held in Sri Lanka – the Bera Fest. With 500 performers it was mammoth and had percussionists like Eric Moore and Pete Lockett. There were Rajasthani percussionists and the Viharamahadevi Park was throbbing with an amazing number of percussion lovers.
While the second edition was billed for 2019 the Easter attacks and the pandemic meant those plans were rolled back.
Corporate events too are at a minimum now but Rakitha undaunted looks forward to a bigger Bera Fest spanning three days in keeping with the demand.
Naadro continue too to innovate, juxtaposing styles and traditions and their ‘street drumming’ which involves drums made of buckets and barrels.
As trendsetters, Naadro has been phenomenal and triggered a veritable mushrooming of percussion groups since 2007.
As Rakitha says proudly but humbly, “the most important thing is that Naadro gave birth to an industry; today there are few corporate events without drumming, and Naadro played no small role in that.”
| Meet the tom-tom beaters | |
| Of the six people who assisted at the birth of Naadro, only Rakitha, Ranga Nuwantha and Gayan Manokumara continue to drum on with newer members joining the group.They all have busy lives outside as well, some being teachers and others performing with different bands but still find time to practise regularly at their Moratuwa studio. Ranga Nuwantha (36) says he first met Rakitha at Piyasara Shilpadipathi’s and is grateful to Rakitha for sharing his knowledge with them. Nupathy Nilambara (36) is grandson to famous Kandyan dance master K.S. Fernando. A product of Ananda College he joined the band after visiting concerts as a fan. Sashi Chaturanga (32) is Ranga’s brother who used to emulate his older sibling with homemade shakers (bottles filled with sand) and later was delighted to join the band. Gayan Manokumara works as a dance teacher. |
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