From Folk Musicians to Popular Icons: The Resilient Uṟumi Mēḷam Tamil Folk Drumming Ensemble in Singapore

An Artistic Product of Globalised Singapore? The Damaru Pan-Indian Folk Drumming Ensemble

“…However, delving deeper into the musical nuances and performance practices, one can observe that Thiru's effort in preserving traditional Indian folk drumming techniques and rhythmic patterns made Damaru more traditional than most Indian drumming groups in Singapore. As I have shown in another study (Lai 2016(Lai , 2020, uṟumi mēḷam artists learned drumming techniques from recordings and their Malaysian counterparts. They have created new drumming techniques based on pragmatic factors, such as drum strokes that can produce the loudest drum sounds with minimal effort from the drummer.…”

“…Prior to the formation of Damaru, members of the Singaporean Indian community had developed new Indian musical ensembles, including Rudra, the Vedic metal band (see Dairianathan 2009Dairianathan , 2012Dairianathan , 2013, Singapore Indian orchestra and choir (see Tan 2018), and uṟumi mēḷam (see Lai 2020Lai , 2021Sykes 2015). Yet, Damaru, the newest Singaporean Indian ensemble, has appealed to audiences of all ages and sociocultural backgrounds, considering their participation in high-profile state events and sold-out performances.…”

“…However, instead of learning about the traditional functions of the rhythmic patterns and performing them with no or minimal variations, uṟumi mēḷam drummers endeavoured to show collective virtuosity and improvisation. One such example is the drummers' ability to collectively perform a rhythmic pattern at a very fast tempo, and those who are up to it are encouraged to improvise on it (see Lai 2016).…”