Born in Kenya of Indian parentage, Tamla migrated to England in 1970. He got involved with the steelpan when he was attending the Christopher Wren School in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. His influence of steelpan came at school where he had lots of friends from Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad. He remembers practising at lunch times and even skipping classes to play this wonderful instrument. Tamla was quick to add that there were no musicians in his family and his musical profession is one of individual choice as he was initially discouraged from his profession.
Gary Chang was his first steelpan tutor at school and in 1976 he played with Gary and Ralph Richardson in the Soucouyant Steelband. Tamla joined Groovers Steelband led by Terry Noel in 1977/78 and performed at the Commonwealth Games in Canada. British Airways sponsored Groovers in the 1980s and this enabled the band to travel worldwide doing promotional work for them. They were looked upon as the most diverse band at the time as most of their 36 players came from different nationalities. He has many fond memories of playing for the Pope, the Royal family, Muhammad Ali, the Prince of Omar and at St Paul’s and Canterbury cathedrals.
In 1982, he spent six months on tour in Bharin with Sterling and became a professional musician in the mid 80s performing with Tony Charles and Sterling Betancourt. Tamla did several tours with bands all over the world and in 1990 visited Zurich where he played with a few bands before he started teaching the art form in Switzerland. Tamla and Patrik Bernhard were responsible for the musical arrangement of Poet and Peasant played by Panch at the 2000 World Steelband Music Festival in Trinidad.
He has played with Glissando, Mangrove, Stardust, Metronomes steelbands in London and Arima Melodians in Trinidad. He pays homage to Gary Chang, Ralph Richardson, Pedro Burgess, Aubrey Bryan, Russell Henderson, Desmond Bowen and Clyde Diaz for their dedication in directing his skills and love for the instrument. Tamla also plays the keyboards, drums, bass and percussion but his main instrument is the tenor pan.
He believes that infrastructure in the pan fraternity is a must and that the way forward is training pan musicians in the theory of music to ensure professionalism, continuity and diversity in steelpan music. Players must be guided to be much more diverse to widen their horizons and that of the instrument. He stated that improvisation is important and the Jazz/Latin/Salsa beat is important on the road to greater recognition for the instrument.
by Robbie Joseph