Hey Mr. Tam Tam man ...

By Walter J. Lyng, September 12th, 2012

I found myself at a wedding reception in Rivière des Prairies last summer, trying to distract myself from much of the music being selected by the DJ when suddenly, the MC announced that we were in for a special surprise. Mr. Tam Tam himself was in the house. Before the words 'Mr. who?' could come out of my mouth, out came a man in a Kanye West-style tuxedo, pounding away at a drum to the beat of whatever club anthem was booming out of the speakers. He stuck around for a few more songs, standing on a chair as he played and then, as quickly as he arrived, he was gone. I had no idea what I just witnessed.
“That's usually the reaction that a lot of people have,” says Marc Saad, a.k.a Mr. Tam Tam. “'What the hell just happened?'”
Saad recently came back on my radar when I found out he was touring with immensely popular Quebec stand-up comic Rachid Badouri. Performing with Badouri on stage, the tour has taken him throughout Quebec, into Ontario and even France. His bread and butter, however, remains to be weddings.
“I'm recovering today,” he says to me on a Tuesday. “This past Saturday, I did seven weddings and on Sunday I did three. Plus, on Sunday and Monday I was performing at the Salon Marions-Nous at Place Bonaventure. Today I am finished.”
Born in 1986 in Beirut, Lebanon, Saad came to Canada in 1991 with his family. His introduction to the instrument, which he says should really be referred to as either a derbeki or darbuka, however, came well before his arrival in this country.
“I started playing when I was three years old, and I mean playing on stage with bands in Lebanon,” he says.
He hit the local club scene at the age of 16 before moving on to bigger and better things.
“I started to take the most upbeat songs and got together with my DJ friend,” says the Laval resident. “Now it's much more organized and it's a production. We go into the studio and I have my producer and voiceovers.”
And although he may be more well known for playing in accompaniment to hit songs, he's currently working on the second single from his forthcoming album of original material. Billed as the city's number one tam tam player, he says he's not the one who gave himself that title.
“The fans and the people gave me that title,” he says. “Literally. I never really thought that I was number one because I have a bunch of friends who do it too, but the way in which I'm number one is [through] my style and the way I do it.
“I have Brazilian dancers, belly dancers, hip-hop dancers, my jacket is all blinged-out head to toe — a big investment in itself. In my own category, I am number one. There's other people that might be better or as good — I don't know — but I can guarantee you one thing: When you see a Marco/Mr. Tam Tam show, you won't forget it and you will love it.”
As to why he has appropriated a flashy hip-hop aesthetic, he says the answer is simple.
“I love anything that's shiny because it catches people's attention,” he says. “Anything I wear is all custom-made for me.”
Always looking for the next big break, there is seemingly no limit to Saad's ambition when it comes to who he dreams about collaborating with. Top on his list: Shakira.
“Shakira has Lebanese in her and a lot of her music, if you listen to it, has the tam tam flair in it,” he says. “She's a very good artist and I've always liked her from day one. I think that my music and her style of singing would be great together. Every day I try to find a way to get to her and I'm not going to give up.”
For now though, Saad says he's looking forward to the next big step in his career: getting his own billboard in the parking lot of an Amir restaurant on l'Acadie near Marché Central.
“I think I'm the first local artist to have something that huge.”
With any luck, it might just be big enough for Shakira to see.
For more information, visit www.marcomrtamtam.com