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 Pop diva Susheela Raman and Tamil bhakti singer Kovai Kamala joined to experiment a new musical experience called, 'Tamil Voodoo' for an overwhelmingly white crowd gathered at the Dunes, an eco-friendly village near Puducherry, on January 26, 2007.
The concert was a musical journey into the intensity and vitality of the Tamil bhakti singing tradition in its pop avatar. The vocalists, along with bass guitarists and folk drummers, created an atmosphere that provided spiritual stimulation and body shakes to those who gathered at the picturesque holiday retreat, some 15 km before Puducherry on the East Coast Road.
 The setting for the concert was perfect on a cold, moonless night. The beachfront provided the backdrop to the makeshift stage that was set-up around natural dunes for the people to squat. The bonfire was lit up to provide soft lights and warm up the surroundings. Those who were ready to shake a leg were closer to the stage.
The Auroville crowd (an international commune near Puducherry) had gathered there in large numbers. The Dune inmates too had assembled after their supper for the concert. The musical extravaganza, timed for 8.30 p.m., actually began at 9 p.m.
 In the next two hours or so, there was free flow of bhakti pop music of a rare kind. Kovai Kamala, with her deep husky voice, created a spiritual aura with chants of ‘Muruga’, ‘Govinda’ and ‘Rama’. Internationally renowned pop singer Susheela Raman transformed the atmosphere into a high-voltage raw pop. The drummers from of Thanjavur and Mettupalayam, representing the Tattapam and Tudumbattam traditions, provided the rhythmic beats. Guitarists Samuel Mills and Paul Jacob lifted the entire musical concert to dizzying heights.
 Susheela’s solo number ‘Om Namah Shiva’ demonstrated her training in Indian classical music. Her stage eccentricities during her performances sent the crowd into a tizzy. They were in a boisterous mood to shake their entire body. Some guys were seen taking off their shirts to dance freely to the drumbeats. The drummers gave a non-stop performance for 15 minutes towards the close of the concert. The crowd went wild.
 “It was a unique experience unheard-of and unseen before. The sound of music was forcing me to shake my legs,” said Suzanne Clark from Paris, who was holidaying at the Dunes.
Ann Gilbert from Auroville, who came to watch Kovai Kamala perform live, did not appreciate the stage mannerism of the bhakti singer.
 “Kamala has a wonderful voice, I have got three CDs of her, but her stage performance did not suit her age. She is 60 plus, I am disappointed seeing her doing a teeny-weeny show,” Ann said.
Bob, Ann's boyfriend was more magnanimous. “Kamala and Susheela created an atmosphere that cannot be described in words. It was an experience to be felt alone,” he said.
 ‘Tamil Voodoo’ was a musical collaboration of several musical talents. Susheela Raman, based in London and working with guitarist-cum-producer friend Samuel Mills, came down to Chennai looking for musical partners. They discovered ‘Funky Bodhi’, the band that plays fusion, folk and pop. They discovered the Tattapam and Tudumbattam drummers. The legendary bhakti singer Kovai Kamala, whose is tutoring Susheela
Raman, was roped in for the concert.
 “I always wanted to experiment the Tamil spiritual music in a pop genre and demonstrate it through stage performance,” said Susheela Raman, who provided the vocals on ‘Asian Vibes’, a single album released in 1999 by Joi on Real World Records, and featured on their album ‘One And One Is One’ that sold a million copies.
“This was first of the ‘Tamil Voodoos’ that’s being planned every month at the Dunes,” said Susheela who was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for her album ‘Salt Rain’ in 2001.
“We are planning a huge international concert, in August, a la Tamil Woodstock,” the pop diva whose website is
http://www.susheelaraman.com
concluded.
Syed Ali Mujtaba
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Bhakti pop in Tamil Voodoo style
