MUMBAI: Apart from being from one of the most beautiful regions in India, North East has also produced some unique musicians. One such musician is up and coming drummer Nishant Hagjer. Nishant is born and brought up in Guwahati and currently resides in Delhi.
Nishant, all of 24, recently performed for the Mumbai Drum Day on 15 March, which was curated by the drummer Gino Banks.
Sharing his experience about being a part of the percussion fest, Nishant said, “It was a very fulfilling experience to perform for Mumbai Drum Day. It brought me out of my comfort zone, as I am mostly used to perform for an audience which is going berserk or headbanging. This was my first experience to perform for a sitting audience, which was quite amazing.”
He added with a chuckle, “I am not very used to this kind of well-behaved crowd.”
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He also gives a lot of credit to Gino Banks for making him a part of this percussion festival, “I don’t know what good I did, that Gino thought of me. He has always looked out for me,” Nishant continued.
He got hooked on drumming since the age of 11 and his parents were “almost fed up” with his new-found interest. “I heard the band Green Bay on VH1 and was fascinated by the hard-hitting drummer, Tre’ Cool. There on I would play on everything I found at home, mostly the Tupperware products and utensils. My parents were fed up. I remember my dad checking to buy a drum set, so I would spare the Tupperware.”
Later he started learning to play drums formally too. “I learnt from Tanmoy Roy Chowdhary. He taught me the basics of drumming,” says the drummer.
He confesses that he has been more inclined towards Western music all throughout, “I was motivated to learn tabla, as I was told it would help my drumming. However, I never took it forward. Since my childhood, I have been more inclined towards western music.”
On the current scene in India for Metal genre music, Nishant says, “The scene is different but at the same, there are some positives. Like, abroad if the band has to travel, it has to shell out a lot of money. In India, mostly everything is taken care of. Although the audience here is receding. Some of my friends and peers who belong to the same genre, travel abroad and they don’t even break even. All this is sad. Securing of more shows is required.”
However, last year Nishant toured Nepal with his Nepalese band, Underside and he was pleasantly surprised by the response he received there. “Although Nepal is a smaller country compared to India, we got an overwhelming response there. We had a double crowd in Nepal for our shows than what we have in India. Even merchandise sale in Nepal was at least 50 per cent higher.”
Nishant signs off on a positive note, “I am seeing the good and better side. Hoping metal as a genre gets a better audience in future.”
