Delhi, our country’s capital. A beautiful melting pot of people from all parts of India and the world. An international hub of commerce, trade, policy and government. A place that celebrates a strong diversity and is a representation of the vibrant nation that is India. People gather from various heritages, ages, areas of expertise and in a short time have to get to know each other to be able to set a foundation to forge a strong working relationship in the future. Enter Taal Inc. Delhi Drum Circles, the experts in audience engagement and pioneers of the drum circle activity in India. 

Why is group drumming workshops such a powerful activity? This is because playing drums and percussion instruments in a group together helps the participants to ground themselves and bring them to the present moment. In a manner of speaking it helps to forget all thoughts for a short amount of time. This is a very powerful experience to have and can be a pivot to use a tool for awareness building, to communicate a pre decided goal, to facilitate training, healing and self development. Just like an athlete practices to always chisel their ability and always get better, faster or stronger, the same concept can be applied to the drum circle activity. The more the participants practice, the better one gets at it. What do I mean by better? I mean that the experience of being in a ‘flow’ state is deeper for more prolonged durations of time. After the initial euphoria has settled, after all the obvious benefits of the drum circle activity have been experienced, that’s when we may have merely dipped our toes into the ocean that is our true potential. 

Having set this background of what the activity is, don’t you think that it is a great way to level the playing field and set the stage for a group of delegates from all over the world gathering to exchange their ideas regarding a certain topic? We sure do. The drum circle activity helps break the ice and bring all the participants on the same page. We learn to connect with our fellow drummers in a natural and age-old way using rhythm and various other non verbal methods. This gives us a chance to use our gutt and intuitive feel more than our cognitive minds. How is that better? Well, if not better, it sure adds more information for our minds to process and make a better informed decision about the other person. Imagine a situation where you have participants from various nations who speak different languages. Connecting using rhythm, the universal language, helps each participant to almost instantaneously make a bond with each other; all without having exchanged one word. This is the power of a Taal Inc. drum circle in Delhi. 

What’s more, a drum circle activity fits in any occasion, even a wedding sangeet, like sugar in milk. Enter Taal Inc. Rhythmic Weddings. We will make sure to keep the activity light and fun but also make sure to engage all the guests attending the haldi-sangeet regardless of their age or whether they belong to the ‘Ladke or Ladki-Walle’. 

While we are in the city for a Delhi drum circle, we will also usually announce a djembe workshop before or after that session. This is a great chance for all those rhythm-enthusiasts to take their skill to the next level by learning a new percussion instrument and getting better at it. Taal Inc. is the only school of Djembe in India that teaches the traditional West African style of playing the Djembe and that represents the Late Grandmaster Mamady Keita (and his djembe academy – Tam Tam Mandingue International Djembe Academy) in India. 

So, the next time that we come out to Delhi, I hope to see and drum with a lot of old friends and new. 
Come. Drum. Be One. 
Varun Venkit