Drum rolls please

Shahbaz is here to let the drummer kick. A hand percussionist armoured with the djembe, he brings in a fusion of the sounds of the tribal African drum and infuses it into his own organic sound. He describes his music as “percussion-based tribal music in an in-house organic sound”. Inimitable? Perhaps. But what he inculcates into a wide array of musical genre is the beat that brings in the energy to a level of elementary vibes albeit the histrionics.
Shahbaz has been seen on stage with his drums internationally with live jazz and rock bands, live vocal lounge performances, indulging and connecting with all forms and genres of music. His collaboration with acts in Canada has even charted for over 25 weeks in Europe and Canada. Born and raised in Canada, the intensity and depth of the wide spectrum of Indian classical music has lured him back to tracing his roots to explore the plethora. On asked about percussions and genres of music like jazz, he replies. “If there’s a certain 4 by 4 beat or a 6 by 6 beat, I play on top of that. The drums rhythm out on the music. I’m not a vocalist, so with my music I try and bring the drum to the forefront.”
Trained on various percussion instruments, like the djembe, dharbuka and congo, Shahbaz creates an explosive tribal atmosphere infused into a certain amount of organic house music that seems to transcend the classifications of genre. “Drums have always appealed to me the most out of all instruments. I find it therapeutic and it kind of brings in some sense to whatever music you play. It’s like the heartbeat. No heartbeat, no heart,” he says.
“When I’m performing with a band, I’m only an element of the different sounds being infused. But when I play alone, there’s a lot more energy since I’m the only one bringing in the organic sound. I tend to innovate and change compositions as I go along,” he adds.
In India he has performed with the likes of DJ Aqeel, DJ Ivan, DJ Nikhil and DJ Pearl and all across the country from Delhi to Cochin, from Pune to Kolkata. Shahbaz has also created original music and the background score for a new Indian animated movie and Indian television shows which he: “cannot speak about because they are all under post-production and I am legally not allowed to do so”. He does all of these with his production partner Pritpal Sehgal under the Label Karma Fusion. “Being a musician and a music producer is completely different. There are a lot of different sides to it and a lot of elements that comes into play that you cannot use in both fields. Production ranges from all kinds of sounds while performance has a lot to do with ambience and change,” he adds.
While the music industry is very different here from the one he has grown accustomed to, and with the lack of piracy laws, Shahbaz is yet to release an independent album. About percussions and clubs he says, “They should have been incorporated here a long time ago. It’s already a strong trend everywhere else.”
The drums come alive on April 25. Share this unique beat at the Rouge in Malad.