Viveick Rajagopalan – Ta Dhom Project

“I was mesmerized by his ideas and clarity of thought; along with his brilliant and quick analogies for every topic.” This was the feedback from one of my students at Ahmedabad University after percussionist Viveick Rajagopalan came as a guest speaker to my class – Musical Traditions of India. Viveick shared with us how the Ta Dhom project became an inspiration for the song “India 91” in the movie Gully Boy. The accessible manner in which he addressed topics ranging from the academic—the concept of mridangam yatis (combination of rhythmic syllables giving rise to different shapes) to the role of rap music representing a voice in our society and its effect in film music kept the entire session engaging and educative.