CADRE Drums at the
5th Annual Muhtadi Drumming Festival
Gary Gomez & Paul Mosley
Paul’s Take – Saturday’s
performance
CADRE’s two I&E groups – plus participating in the “SWOMP” drum
line - performed in Toronto on Saturday, June 5th at the 5th
Annual Muhtadi International Drumming Festival – June
5 – 6.
The two CADRE I&E groups will also be competing at the DCA (Drum
Corps Associates) World Championship Individual & Ensemble competition – held
annually on the Labour Day weekend. This year’s competition
will be held in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The “CADRE I” group plays on modern, hi-tension field
drums. The program consists of recent works written by both Canadian
and US
authours arranged specifically as a competition piece.
“CADRE II” plays on large, rope-tension
drums. These are newly-built replicas of drums used 250 years ago.
The repertoire is a blend of
new music - written within the rope drum idiom - as well
as ancient pieces dating back to when field drums were “signals” instruments
on the field of battle, in military fort-life and used to “march” troops.
Although both groups perform precision, rudimental drumming, the
differences in sound and repertoire are readily apparent:
-
CADRE
I features a modern crisp sound, varied time signatures and complex
musical constructions.
-
CADRE
II recreates the big, robust, martial sound of ancient
drums.
We appreciated
the opportunity to perform among such a diverse group of drummers
and drumming
styles i.e. “RAW” (Raging Asian
Women) who played magnificently on their many Koto drums, a Korean
drum group – with their wonderful, “twirling” hats,
samba groups, reggae, etc., etc., etc.
The feeling was relaxed and friendly. Everyone was
there to listen to drumming, dance, and have a mellow
time.
We thank Mr. Muhtadi for his kind invitation to perform
and look forward to performing next year.
Gary’s Take – Sunday, the day after
I decided to drop by the Muhtadi festival the day after
we played – Sunday
June 6th - around 4:00 pm and was greeted by many people who saw us
perform the previous evening. They indicated they were thrilled that
we would be performing again today – or
so they thought.
I regrettably informed them that we were unable
to perform as we were only booked for one performance
and some of the members had
other commitments.
Well… talk about disappointed drum
fans…
Then I was pulled aside by the announcer
who wanted to know what time we were going
on and
how come
we weren’t on his schedule…
I disappointed a lot of people that night.
One of the committee members told me it was such
a welcomed and different type of drumming than
what the
festival was used to.
He and the other
people really enjoyed seeing what we did and they
were very impressed.
Then MUHTADI – “The King” -
hugged me and congratulated us on a wonderful
performance
and gave us his personal invitation
to return next year. He told me that he was
approached by many people wanting to know
all about us, how
he had found us, and
if we were
coming
back next year.
In 2005, Muhtadi also wants us to perform
at the “Friday Night
Fund Raiser” - the night before the
festival starts (only really popular groups
are invited
to perform).
Later, I met-up with “Ocean Eddie” (Jacko) who dropped
by to see “Samba Squad”. Ed told me that he was also approached
by many people - some of them performers - asking all about our style
of drumming, “how did we learn to play like that”,
etc., etc.
These comments are not meant to be self-serving
about how we played, but are meant to illustrate
how rudimental
drumming has a universal,
emotional appeal.
It was a great feeling hearing from people
outside of the drum corps experience… hearing
that they loved our performance and wanted
to see us
anytime we perform.
Thanks to everyone for making this great event
happen!
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