Indian man makes musical instruments out of glass bottles, terracotta and tiles
by Sudipto MaityCut off from music for over two decades, an unplanned event changed this musician’s life, leading to the discovery of a new instrument.
Somenath Banerjee, 54, a resident of Serampore in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, is not your regular musician. The eastern Indian native doesn’t play any conventional musical instrument. He plays a xylophone-like instrument, but with a twist.
Banerjee’s instrument is made from scrap-used terracotta and ceramic tiles.
He also extracts sound from glass bottles by filling them up with water- albeit with varied levels and using a stick to strike them.
Speaking to Newslions, Banerjee said he was resting one day when he heard a sound. Not knowing where it came from, the man tracked it down and found out it was a builder at his home who dropped a ceramic tile. Banerjee asked the builder to drop the tile exactly the same way he had dropped it earlier.
“It made a very sweet sound and that is when I had the idea of making an instrument,” he said.
Banerjee shared that his father was a renowned xylophone player and he used his father’s xylophone, took out the wooden plates, and replaced them with ceramic ones.
With time, he had tried the same using terracotta plates and glass and has played tunes on them.
The man said he used to play with his father in his childhood, but gave up music entirely after his old man died.
“There was no guidance after my father passed away, so I eventually gave up music and took up other jobs.”
But, it was his wife who eventually coaxed the man to get back to his musical roots.
“My wife listened to my story and asked me to give it a try. Though I had not played a not in 20 years, I decided to give it a try and the rest you know…” the man adds.