Did you know that Samba music originates from Seventeenth Century Bahia, Brazil, where descendents of African slaves married percussion techniques with Latin American folk music? Recently, Drum Feng had the opportunity of exploring the beauty behind Brazilian Percussion music with a special guest percussionist, Vimal Veeran.
Group shot of the participants and local musician Vimal Veeran at Drum Feng's Official Concert Workshop Series: Brazilian Percussion 2022.
Fast forward to today, Samba music, or Brazilian Percussion, has made its way to various parts of the world, including Singapore! We had the pleasure of inviting local musician, Vimal Veeran, to kick-start Drum Feng’s Concert Workshop Series with his Brazilian Percussion workshop!
The day-time engineer has built his music portfolio through various gigs and performances. You can check out his Instagram and Facebook to see what he’s up to!
Vimal leading the participants in a drumming exercise.
In preparation for the end-of-year Drum Feng Concert, Drum Feng’s Concert Workshop Series has given a platform to both performers and the public to explore 5 different drumming genres and the traditions behind them. On the other hand, the Workshop Series also commemorates the achievements of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. The SCCC is currently celebrating their 5th Anniversary.
Despite being engaging, entertaining and educating Singaporeans on the traditions and modernisation of Chinese percussion music, Drum Feng hopes to assimilate other musical genres into their development as a non-profit arts organisation. Since resuming rehearsals and operations, their focus has turned to emphasising the importance of being more proactive in artistic activities in Singapore. This is not a new conversation - The arts community in Singapore has grown exponentially but may not always be as highly valued as other industries.
As artists, many of us are often met with questions about what we actually do, whether we are earning enough, how we can continue to fund and explore new horizons without sufficient funding. That is just the tip of the iceberg. In reality, appreciating the arts is as simple as sharing a post about a new workshop being promoted on Instagram, or liking a post on FaceBook about a new song cover. Cultivating a culture and nation which sees the arts as necessary goes beyond monetary support, it is also about showing kindness and encouragement to your local arts groups.
With that being said, Drum Feng hopes to meet more of you at their next Concert Series Workshop where they will be inviting Malay Percussionist, Riduan Zalani to create percussionist pieces (with you) for their upcoming concert!
The workshop will be held on 18 September 2022 from 3:30pm to 5pm at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, 1 Straits Blvd, Singapore 018906. No prior music experience is required and all instruments will be provided for participants. Sign up here today!
You can check out the highlights of Drum Feng’s Brazilian Percussion (featuring Vimal Veeran) on Instagram and Facebook.