The streets of Gandhi Nagar, Velachery, are filled with posters of TTV Dinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). Amidst catchy slogans and political promises, a motley band grabs its respective musical instruments. With drums and dhol s slung on their shoulders, five players of Gokul Music Band’s 50-member crew start playing ‘Kannai Nambathey’.
The troupe, for reasons that are quite obvious, is playing an old MGR song, attracting scores of people from the neighbourhood, where the party’s candidate is campaigning. The trumpet leads the pack with its blaring sound that complements the rhythmic beats of the drums, thus providing a synchronous effect.
“It’s our music that gets the attention of the people. Only then do they listen to the politician,” says Thulukanam V, proprietor of the band, which, since its inception in 2012, has been performing for election campaigns. Every time the election dates are announced, the band gets tempting offers from various political parties. “We normally get requests to perform in and around Velachery. Since ours is the only band in this part of the city, the offers are aplenty,” he says, adding, “We have performed for all political parties including DMK, AIADMK, Congress and DMDK.”
The relationship between Tamil cinema and Dravidian politics is like an umbilical cord, acknowledges Thulukanam. Which is why he takes into account the ‘star’ factor involved in each political party, thereby curating a unique list of songs for the campaigns. For instance, if they’re approached by DMDK, the band performs hit numbers of Vijayakanth. He adds: “Likewise, we perform Nagoor Hanifa songs for DMK, and MGR and Jayalalithaa songs for AIADMK and so on.” But what about Congress, which has no cinema connection? “In that case, we play the quintessential military march for them,” he laughs.
- Gokul Music Band has a cluster of musical instruments consisting of trumpets, dhols, euphoniums, drums and saxophones.
- In addition to instruments, the band has an interesting set of caps: visiri, peak and neet visiri cap.
- The cost of one set of costume, including shirt, trousers, and cap, is roughly around ₹2,500
- Most customers prefer the Punjabi-styled Patiala. Band members sport a white costume for Christian weddings, while black is usually reserved for funerals.
Thulukanam has developed an affinity towards one of the Dravidian parties. But his political leaning has never been a hindrance to his business, “That’s not how we operate. This is my vaithu pozhappu (profession) and I can’t afford to lose election offers.” Whether it’s an election trail or retirement function, Thulukanam charges his customers based on the requirements — of band members. He elaborates, “For a 10-member crew, I usually charge ₹18,000. If the customer asks for a 50-member band, then the price is somewhere between ₹70,000 to 80,000.” Performing at election trails has its own perils, he says. The campaigns start at 5 pm and goes on till 10 pm, for which, the band is expected to perform throughout the entire duration. Getting the payment due, again, has always been a challenge, rues Thulukanam, “It’s difficult to satisfy them and at times, you need to run behind them for money. And they ask you to constantly play for several hours.”
Between life and death
When they aren’t dancing to political tunes, Gokul Music Band takes orders for various events — weddings, retirement functions, birthday celebrations and so on. When Thulukanam started out, he merely had 10 members in his band. However, in the last couple of years, the band has vastly expanded and employs over 50 members today. There’s no off-season for the band, he says rather proudly, “I make it a point to get work for at least 15 days a month since all my employees are daily wagers. They get paid ₹1,500 per day.” Gokul Music Band, by his own admission, has been surviving on the wedding season because “that’s when the juices keep flowing”. Though the band members don’t practise much these days, they have mastered a list of wedding songs that they have been playing over the years.
Performing at funerals is the most depressing task, shrugs Thulukanam. He remembers one grim experience when he got a call at 4 am, asking if he would be able to set-up the band for a funeral procession, “People are very disciplined in certain houses. They don’t dance. But in most cases, men are invariably drunk and create a ruckus for no reason,” he says, adding, “They taunt and treat us badly. Since our bread and butter comes from this, we need to tolerate them.”
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