Rahul Vanamali
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rahulvanamali.com
Rahul Vanamali
@rahulvanamali.com
440 followers 240 following 190 posts
📍Chennai, India
Percussionist, performer, educator, session musician.
Video game music arranger, Pokémon geek. He/him. Available for remote recording!
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rahulvanamali.com
Been working on more intentional, offline living lately, but some updates

- Sold out(!) solo show in Chennai last month, first of its kind in India
- Introducing marimba/vibes to new audiences & genres of Indian music with different bands/ensembles

Grateful for the opportunities
A picture of me playing my marimba with the vibraphone on stage in the background
October 15, 2025 at 5:36 AM
rahulvanamali.com
I hadn't shared this on here, so -- this weekend I'm doing a solo classical percussion show in Chennai, which will be the first of its kind in India!

India's biggest classical music magazine did a feature on me too: serenademagazine.com/rahul-vanama...
A poster of me sitting behind my marimba with my hands clasped under my chin. "Many Studies, One Summary" is the concert title, with the subtitle "Rahul Vanamali presents: A Classical & Contemporary Solo Percussion Concert. Indian Premieres of Marimba, Vibraphone, Drum Set, Snare Drum works by Psathas, Séjourné, and more" It takes place at Aura Studios, in Chennai, on September 14, 2025, with tickets available through Skillbox.
September 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM
rahulvanamali.com
New portrait shots 🥁
A portrait shot of me leaning forward over the low end of my marimba and staring into the camera, with two mallets in one hand, and the other two mallets lying on the marimba keys.
May 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Emulating guitar tapping on vibraphone remains the best way to keep my chops up
May 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM
rahulvanamali.com
It’s been a while since I’ve posted some shredding, so please enjoy me playing along to some Indian prog ⚡️
April 4, 2025 at 1:07 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Just a teeny tiny bit.

Here’s what I’m wearing as I type this out lol (completely coincidental)
A picture of a white t shirt with a purple Mewtwo silhouette on it.
March 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
rahulvanamali.com
I recently found this folder containing all the music my dad downloaded for me to listen to on my first iPod ages ago 😶‍🌫️

The lack of DS games is a bit misleading timeline-wise lol but this was probably around 2009-2010. I spent sooo many hours listening to these soundtracks
A OneDrive folder containing the soundtracks to most of the Pokémon games from generations I to IV
March 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
rahulvanamali.com
It’s not in a place that catches my eye frequently, so every so often when I’m putting my vibes back together after a gig, I see the spot where @drumultima.bsky.social signed my instrument and remember the fun trip I had when I first picked it up 🥹
A picture of the side of my vibraphone frame with Doug Perry’s signature on it
March 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
rahulvanamali.com
I played for a singer-songwriter friend tonight at a venue that couldn’t accommodate a bass drum, so I ended up having a really interesting and inspiring time with this minimal setup of snare, floor tom (pseudo-kick) and ride cymbal
A picture of my snare drum, floor Tom, and ride cymbal
March 16, 2025 at 5:08 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Happy Pokémon Day 😄
My sleeping Charmander plushie in front of the Pokémon presents stream
February 27, 2025 at 2:02 PM
rahulvanamali.com
@viopatti.bsky.social is a lighting wizard 🪄
Follow her new channel and you too, can learn to look as cool as I feel 🐉
youtube.com/@pattirudisi...
An angled shot of me playing marimba with red lighting
February 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Lots been happening offline so I've been away from social media for a while; turned 25 today and counting my blessings 🙏🏽
A picture of me crouching on the ground next to my dog Max
February 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
rahulvanamali.com
New drums who dis 🥁
This is my dream setup
Yamaha Stage Custom Hip in Matte Surfe Green, with Istanbul Agop flat ride and hats, mesh heads on toms and kick, and drum tortilla on snare
February 2, 2025 at 2:10 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Me and my canon Pokémon team

I don’t think I have a regional bias, but Johto’s got some top-tier designs
A picture of me sitting in between my vibraphone and marimba Charizard Kingdra Porygon2
January 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
rahulvanamali.com
I love overhead shots, this is from a show I did this past weekend!
An overhead monochrome picture of me playing the vibraphone
January 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Here's a few pictures from my return to live performance in India
- Debuted mallet instruments at prestigious venues across the country
- Premiered classical/contemporary music for Indian audiences
- Shared stages with legendary musicians
A front shot of me playing vibraphone A shot from behind of a band on stage, with me standing behind my vibraphone and next to my marimba A picture of me on stage playing vibraphone, next to a flute player A picture from behind my vibraphone showing a large concert hall
December 31, 2024 at 4:45 PM
rahulvanamali.com
I typed up this 2024 reflection a couple days ago.
I had less time for my own projects this year, but lots of incredible opportunities as far as live performance goes, and looking back on 2024 as a whole made me feel pretty proud of everything I did.
1/4 When I first moved back to India last year, I knew I might end up being one of the only mallet players in the country. An exciting thought, but given the rarity of these instruments - both physically and in the musical traditions that exist here - certainly a daunting one too. Hard work, patience, perseverance, and almost two years later... In 2024, I debuted my instruments at several prestigious venues across the country, gave my first performances as a mallet player since returning, premiered classical repertoire to Indian audiences, and traveled more than I ever had before. 2/4 I spent most of last year making music on my own and ruminating on what I truly wanted to do, while making connections and meeting people online — early this year, a couple of musically enriching trips to Delhi and Mumbai helped me convert those connections into friendships offline. The period between August and October was perhaps the most rewarding. Live performance has always been a core part of my musical identity, and with several shows in a variety of genres across multiple cities, I started to feel more musically fulfilled, in a way I hadn’t for a while. 3/4 My musical highlights of the year came in this timeframe; I’m grateful to TICE for bringing me on to a project unlike any I’d seen before, Shirish for partnering with me to showcase more classical music, and Neil for providing me with a platform to showcase my capabilities on my instruments as well as share a stage with musicians I’d long watched from afar. All this to say nothing of a first full year of teaching at The Sunshine Orchestra, an orchestra unlike any other in the country, which has been a true privilege. 4/4 Couple more brief thank yous: to Anantha for always pushing me to Ranjana and Aniket for making my travel as smooth as could be It’s been a quiet end to 2024 as I spend this month recovering from surgery, but with it comes a chance to properly reflect on the year as a whole, and the incredibly opportunities that arrived with it. it may have taken a little while, but I can feel the wheels beginning to turn. Thank you to everyone who supported me this year. I’m just getting started.
December 31, 2024 at 4:40 PM
rahulvanamali.com
🎄🎄🎄 New gear day and it’s the single most beautiful cymbal I’ve ever owned.
Istanbul Agop 30th anniversary 20” flat ride 😍
Istanbul Agop 30th anniversary 20” flat ride
December 25, 2024 at 6:24 PM
rahulvanamali.com
A drummer friend of mine was visiting from the US, and we paid tribute to the legendary Zakir Hussain, one of the greatest tabla players ever, who passed away earlier this week
December 21, 2024 at 1:08 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Glad my new snare wires arrived safely, but the packaging to product ratio was startling and amusing
Grover Pro snare wires in a plastic cover next to a box many times larger, stuffed with paper wrapping
December 3, 2024 at 2:04 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Retired my Tama Speedcobras after 12 years of use (including travel for school and MAGFest!) and upgraded to these Yamaha DFP-9Ds, my first direct drive pedals!
A picture of Yamaha’s DFP-9D direct drive double pedals attached to a surf green Yamaha Stage Custom Hip bass drum with an Evans dbZero low volume head fitted to it
November 27, 2024 at 12:49 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Pokémon Sleep has been revolutionary for my sleep.

I stopped playing a week after release because I didn’t want to have the app open all night, but now with the addition of sleep sync with my watch, and the delightfully deep mechanics, it’s quickly become one of my favourite Pokémon games ever.
A screenshot of Pokémon Sleep, showing Snorlax sleeping in the center with a Charmeleon and Squirtle also visible
November 27, 2024 at 3:49 AM
rahulvanamali.com
When I first heard the keys solo in Arch Echo’s “Aluminosity”, I mentally classified it as too pianistic to play comfortably with mallets.

Tried it on a whim today and double strokes really got me there 💪🏽
November 21, 2024 at 1:26 PM
rahulvanamali.com
Been missing Montréal lately so here’s a throwback:

In what feels like an entire lifetime ago (though it’s been just over three years), I played with that orchestra in the same venue and had a blast
A shot of the Montreal Video Game Orchestra on stage in a church A shot from below the stage, showing the musicians on stage and colourful lighting in the background Me sitting behind a drum set with the orchestra
November 10, 2024 at 3:55 AM
rahulvanamali.com
I'm really excited to share my full version of Dire, Dire Docks, for what I call "Super Vibraphone 64" :
My electric vibes running through NeuralDSP's Archetype: Plini X!

Full video below!
October 28, 2024 at 3:53 PM