One of Mr M S Maniam’s fondest memories of music harks back to the time he had to improvise on the Indian drums when he was a “mere disciple”.

He was barely 16, growing up in Singapore, and was summoned by his guru, M.V Gurusamy – an expert on the Indian drum mridangam, to turn up at a certain place at a certain time.  When he arrived dazed and confused, Mr Maniam saw that the brightest and biggest Indian musicians in the land had gathered there – a music studio.

It wasn’t until he was ordered by his guru to “play along” that he realized  he was at one of the most important classical Indian music recordings in Singapore in a long while.

“I didn’t know head or tail,” he said. “My guru said – this is my student. He can play. And he told me what to do. And it was one of the most successful recordings ever. And this is how I grew up.”

Now, with more than 48 years of experience in the Singapore music scene, Mr Maniam himself is a guru of percussion. An expert in Indian, Latin and Middle Eastern percussion instruments, he is a recipient of the prestigious COMPASS Artistic Excellence Award (Singapore) and was awarded the “Indian Cultural Ambassador” by Singapore’s National Heritage Board three years in a row.

And that moment of improvisation has stuck with him. Every time he was asked to improvise, he got a kick out of it.

“Another time was when we were in Moscow (for Spotlight), (the late) Iskandar (Ismail) told me – I want you to do something different. And I had to think of something,” he said. “So I gave a small rap on the spot. And we had great musicians with us. We didn’t practice and we just made it up on the spot and we ended up with fantastic music.”

This love for improvisation also landed him his famous jamming sessions at Zouk in the 90s, when he played the tabla almost every weekend alongside the beats of the world's most famed DJs Paul Oakenfold, Danny Tenaglia, John Digweed, Paul van Dyk and Sasha.

For Mr Maniam, every gig is a chance to learn something new and It’s this never-ending quest to get better at what he does that drives him even after all these years. He learns even from younger musicians, such as Malay percussionist Riduan Zalani, who calls Mr Maniam his “guru” and is also part of the Spotlight ensemble.

“When I was playing at Zouk, he used to come,” he said. “And he will join me on the drums and he will ask me, Bang (Malay for brother), what do you think? And I will say, good, keep it up.”

“Although I am more experienced than him, I also learn from him. It’s an exchange. We are here to understand one another. That’s music,” he added.  

Having been involved in almost all the Spotlight shows, Mr Maniam is still looking forward to the next show.

“To be in exchange with them, this is a very good experience not just for me but for all the musicians,” he said.

“It’s also good for them, for them to know our instruments, the music that we are going to play…I was exposed to Chinese music, Malay music, western music. Now, what I am doing is mixing what I have learned with all the different styles. This is my style, my Singapore style.”