Interview with Vivek Vaid
How would you describe your music? What instruments do you play?
I play anything in percussion. I think the rhythm is inborn. I make my own music also. Music has to be enjoyable to the ears. I play every skin instrument — congo, bongo, drums, dhol, and my favorite is African Djembe, which is used by villagers to alert people against attacks.
How did you choose to be a musician? Who inspired you?
I’m an untrained, self-taught musician. In the early days, when I hadn’t started shaving, I fell in love with drums, so after much research, my father took me to the Rajdoot Hotel to meet a drummer who played in a cabaret joint. Hahaha. He called me home for a class. I went and got bored, but my interest never faded. My mom, out of her monthly kitty money, bought me a drum set from Ranga-rsons … bas then I just sat on them and started playing thinking I was the best rock star ever. Inspiration, hmmmmmmm, no one – it just happened.
Which is your favorite event?
There are two events. First, I and 10 other drummers visited Mother Teresa’s home, Prem Daan, in Chatturpur for the specially disabled. There were 200 inmates, all lost to their world and didn’t even know who they were. We just sat in their central courtyard and started playing. Slowly, 15 -20 of them came to see what was happening. We sensed they wanted to dance. We played “papa kehte hai” 22 times for their star dancer, “Birju”. We felt blessed. Their expression was gratitude from them.
The second event was when this dear lady from D Block Chinky organised an event for the underprivileged kids (who she teaches arts and crafts). She also invited the girls from an orphanage. I was the only drummer, along with some singers from the Defcol jammers – the girls had the beat in them and danced nonstop for one hour. The happiness on their faces made our day.
What inspired you to start the Defcol jammers group?
Talent never dies; it hides or goes to sleep in every human being. We call it latent talent – dancers, singers, musicians, artists and more and Defcol has the best of the best. So we started defcoljammers to awaken the sleeping talent, to give people to do what they always wanted to do. We decided we would sing and play music in public places only so that the men on the street could also join in and be a part. We operate through Instagram and Facebook. Senior citizens needed the most, and we proved it.
Would you like to restart the group?
Of course, anything to make people come alive- wake them up, allow them to bring out their talents. And trust me; everyone has some talent which went to sleep or something they aspired to do. We want to be the catalyst for them and give them a beautiful reason to live happyily, meet new people, and more. Now that I am back in action post my spinal surgery, we shall Rock the Raga with defcoljammers.
What are your interests other than music?
Food Food and more food. We run a food group on Facebook called De Foodadvisor with over 30k members across the globe. Our main objective is to integrate India through food – to label our cuisine as INDIAN Cuisine globally and not Punjabi Bengali or Madrasi food. We hold discussions, we study food history, we organise food pop-ups, we manage culinary travel across the country, and many more food-centric activities all over India. We are looking at starting a Def Col Food Club soon to explore the delicacies of Def Col eateries and maybe get home chefs to hold pop-ups.
What advice would you give to others?
Ek life hai – Khul ke Jiyo, daro mat. In life, do anything that makes you feel happy. Message for seniors: tell people around you to stop calling or labeling you as OLD; the youth, please slow down and be part of the beautiful community we live in …to us. Start paying back to society; it helps.
