Different Drums Of Ireland is a local band specialising in drums and were invited recently to attend the Irish Fest Wisconsin.
There were three strands to the visit; a concert at Big Top Chautauqua – native American word meaning Talking Place, where different Drums played a double bill with Tommy Sands; then a trip to the Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer school were Paul Marshall (Different Drums) taught intermediate and advanced Bodhran; and then taking to the stage at the Irish Fest – the 2010 festival focused on music from Northern Ireland.
There were 130,000 people over 3 days, 16 stages and 80-90 different performers including our own Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Kintra and Different Drums.
The message is multicultural and the Chippewa have their own drums but have decided to attempt to fashion their own version of the Lambeg Drum for next years festival.
Different Drums brings the indigenous drums of Ireland, the Lambeg and the Bodhran together for the first time ever in celebratory performance.
The music also features the Uilleann or elbow pipes,whistles, guitar, snares, long drum, 4 voices and is driven by the engine of the African djembe. Adding myriad percussion and other instruments to original and traditional songs makes a unique and exciting combination of traditions and sounds. A unique celebration of cultural diversity and linkages
The band has played across the world, for everyone from US & Irish presidents to school children – The message is the same Celebrate that which makes us different and that which bonds us together
“…an amazing sensory experience, the vibrant drum playing is genuinely stunning but over the top we hear whistles and pipes playing flying melodies with gorgeous ballads and spoken word sections…” Woven wheat whispers
Congratulations to the guys an an amazing adventure. They have been asked to come back in March to work with the Ojibwa people (English – Chippewa) on the Lac de flambeau meaning, The Lake Of Torches (comes from the local method of for spear fisjhing at night).
“We were there to provide a common ground for the local native population and the local white population who have been very suspicious of each other. Music is the common ground and in particular the drum, which sparks a few beats here locally in Ulster” says Paul Marshall of Different Drums.
The band have also been invited back back in August for the Rustic Rythm Festval in Boulder Junction in Wisconsin.
You can join their facebook page here and keep up to date with all the music
Click here to join their facebook page here and keep up to date with all the music –
