Drumming Qatar, a band of three men performing African drumming music, is organising a charity show in which two prominent drummers from South Africa and Australia will perform at Sherborne Qatar, Bani Hajer, on the evening of January 19.
The music show is titled Rhythm Explosion 3. Patrick Dilley, South African drummer/percussionist and founder of Drumming Qatar band, will perform at the show with Michael Pigneguy, an internationally renowned Australian drummer and member of The Awakenings Ensemble music band.
Organised by Drumming Qatar, the Rhythm Explosion goes into its third year since the incredible show started in 2016 at Sherborne Qatar. This year’s event will see a great variety of music performed by the professionals and by students from selected schools.
The show will start at 5.30pm and tickets are available Eventbrite.com. Price of a ticket for a child is QR30, for an adult QR50, and for a family QR130. All income from the show will be donated to United World Schools charity. Performances by students from Qatar Music Academy, American School of Doha, and International School of London Qatar will also feature in the show.
Talking to Community, Patrick Dilley said, “The event will mainly showcase percussion and African drums for school children. After main performances by the expert drummers and artists, I will have an interactive session with the audience. I will ask and tell them about basics of drumming and will help them perform some basics of the music at the show.”
He added, “This event is very family friendly and is definitely for all ages. There is going to be a great combination of performances by professional and students separately and their combined performances. We also have special guests such as fantastic Spanish Vocalist Ana Cisneros and English Pianist Phil Wilkinson. This event is sponsored by many local companies such as 51 East Qatar and Yamaha. Probably you will see the most percussion and drum sets at one place in the show.”
Talking to Community, Aliguma Saul Rayan, a member of Drumming Qatar from Uganda, said, “The expatriate community of Uganda has also been supporting the upcoming show as it will mainly highlight African drumming in Qatar.”
Speaking about drumming in general, he said, “Drumming is an ancient practice used for centuries in many cultures, especially in Africa, to unite people in celebrations, in battles or to mark important announcements. Drumming is considered stress releasing music. It also has healing effects. It can also offer deep insight and help in team works.”
About Drumming Qatar, he noted, “The band has three permanent members. The members are founder Patrick Dilley, Adele Niyod, and myself. Other participants of the group include people from African drumming students. Most of the students hail from countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Canada, Ireland, UK, USA, Nigeria, and Australia, making it truly an international group in Qatar.”
Aliguma, a bass drummer and a dancer, said, “Started in 2011, Drumming Qatar is an offshoot of Team Spirit drumming band formed by Patrick Dilley aka Mister P in South Africa in 2005. The Team Spirit still performs and has had a variety of members locally. Most of the modern music we listen to today is influenced in some way by African roots and we try to raise awareness about the fact as well as the proven healing benefits of drumming. Whether one is actively participating or is only exposed to a drum circle, drumming is known to release stress and even improve resistance to illness amongst many other benefits. Research by Dr Barry Bittmann from USA in 2006 has also highlighted the healing aides of drumming. We also work with Peak Performance Fitness Qatar.”
‘Our group also runs drum circles and draws analogies between a drum circle and how a community should work together covering across all aspects of life. As an example in the fast paced and stressful corporate world today, one can gain clear insight through an interactive drumming event into how an individual’s energy affects the group and ultimately how the overall energy of a group affects its performance,” he noted.
He added, “One of our main objectives with our monthly open drum circles in Qatar is to bring people of all nations and backgrounds together as one community as we all enjoy drumming together in the moment, breaking down barriers of culture or language.”
Aliguma said, “Drumming Qatar has performed at many festivals in Qatar and regularly runs workshops for corporates and in the education sector. Community drum circles are run monthly and public drum lessons are done weekly at The Strongbox in West Bay.”
FEEL THE RHYTHM: Drumming Qatar’s students perform at last year’s Rhythm Explosion.
