Tenma (musician)

Tenma cites the manga Monster as the inspiration for his stage name. He says, "I didn’t want caste, religion, and the identity given to me at birth. I didn’t want my family name because that’s a different person. He lived without knowing anything. Tenma at least knows something. I read this Manga book called Monster. The protagonist’s name is Kenzo Tenma, a very hopeful character. I love him. So, I named myself after him."

Tenma started the band Kurangan with Kaber Vasuki, a singer, and songwriter. Tenma met Kaber when he was fundraising for his album Azhagu Puratchi. Tenma had the vision to take the music forward, so he called Kaber and produced the album. The band became popular after performances such as appearances on Kappa TV and Terrace Jams.[1][2][3] They produced multiple songs that became very popular in the years they were active, between 2015 and 2017. For various reasons, the two artists decided to split ways in 2017.

Neelam Cultural Centre, a social change organization spearheaded by  Pa. Ranjith, approached Tenma to do a workshop/ residency for Gaana artists and other musical artists to make songs that speak on equality and social justice. This involved bringing together artists who grew up as laborers and are working as daily wage workers in the slums and musicians from the independent music community who came from more privileged parts of society. The first Madras Records Residency resulted in The Casteless Collective – currently, India's largest Political Ensemble Band consisting of Folk, Gaana, Hip hop and Rock artists from North Madras (Chennai) and from Dharavi (Mumbai). The band writes songs on various social topics and issues that bring about dialogue on the status quo through music.

The first show held on 6 January 2018, had over 7000 people in attendance. Tenma brought in artists from Madras Indie Collective to work on the debut show. After the show, he was assigned to do the Casteless Collective Album. Instead of renting a studio, Tenma instead rented the Museum Theatre and gave prominence to the percussion instruments in the album. Considering that the instrument and the players themselves are still treated as "impure", this was an important step in breaking stereotypes. The Casteless Collective videos have reached more than a million views on social media.[4] Under the music leadership of Tenma, it has produced multiple singles and as well as the popular albumMagizhchi.[5]

The Madras Indie Collective was founded by Tenma as a movement to bring together and work with artists of various disciples from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The artists and the audience were curated to initiate dialogue on art and its relevance in a modern suburban context. MIC continued for the next 8 months which led to multiple collaborations between artists who would have never met otherwise, friendships were formed and bonds built. To bring some protocol in the workflow they started Madras Records. Small platforms were used to remove the divide between artists, audiences, and curators.

Along with OfRo, Tenma co-founded Madras Medai, an Independent Music festival.[6] The first performance took place on 19 May 2018. More than fifty artists performing different genres of original music were presented on the same stage to an audience of five thousand.[7][8] This edition of the festival included artists from various music communities and backgrounds. After Madras Medai, most of the artists released albums with videos and started building their own smaller ecosystems within the larger ecosystem that Tenma had created with a group of artists.