Vaibhav Verma finds a new rhythm in ‘Jaan Ban Gaye’

A new tabla cover, ‘Jaan Ban Gaye’ by Vaibhav Verma from the movie Khuda Haafiz, has been enthralling viewers recently, garnering over two lakh views in the first week. Shot around Amer Fort and Sagar Point in Jaipur by Mayank Goswami, the single launched by Zee Music brings the Delhi-based percussionist to the fore.

Beats and rhythm

Vaibhav’s house in Delhi is a melting pot of sounds of the tabla, dhol, cajon, darbuka (a goblet-shaped drum with a single membranophone, used in Egypt and Saudi Arabia) and djembe .

When he was nine, he would bang spoons on plates and was attracted to thunderous beats of the dhol. “I would pester my father to bring me a dhol,” he reminisces. Tabla classes in school under Goutam Hazra not only kept the interest alive but also encouraged him to make a career of it.

Since his cover for Tony Kakkar five years ago, Vaibhav has been making fusions with Bollywood, Punjabi and Hollywood numbers. He was in Class XII when he began uploading fusion covers on social media. After college, he launched Imza (meaning signature), an acoustic band in 2016 with three friends; the band performed at Indore, Goa, Bhubaneshwar and Jaipur. “The concerts were fun, with a mix of romantic and pulsating, dance numbers,” he adds.

Vaibhav continues his tabla riyaaz under Ustad Akram Khan, and observes that his knowledge of tabla helps in playing other percussion instruments. “I use to jam at my friend’s studio and saw the cajon there. I explored the instrument and slowly picked it up and bought one for myself,” he shares adding some audiences are unfamiliar with the instrument and think it to be a stool to sit on.

So far, he has collaborated with AR Rahman, Honey Singh, Badshah, Guru Randhawa, Akhil Sachdeva, Parmish Verma and Maninder Buttar.

Vaibhav also performs at weddings and private and corporate events, and had shifted base to Mumbai to pursue his musical career. But when his grandmother passed away, he returned to Delhi and has been there since the pandemic-linked lockdown.

He says, “My focus was to blend a bit of classical music with western Bollywood music and let an Indian instrument take centrestage.”