loading...
Bobby Bovenzi is one of the instructors at the inaugural Okanagan Rhythm Festival. (Photo contributed)
If you’re human, you’ve got rhythm.
From your heartbeat to circadian rhythm, it’s inside you and it can be translated to music, says local musician Trevor Salloum.
“Drums are very accessible,” says Salloum, who plays drum in local band Major Mambo and also teaches drumming. “We really all have inherent rhythm and have the ability to drum, in a sense.”
And what better opportunity to explore your “inherent rhythm” than at this year’s inaugural Okanagan Rhythm Festival.
The festival is all about drumming and will feature Middle Eastern, West African, Afro Cuban, Japanese and other styles.
“It kind of captures everybody with this kind of festival because it will have everything,” explains Salloum, noting it’s something that a wide age range can enjoy.
For those wanting to learn drumming basics or just be introduced to something new, there will be a number of workshops including Afro-Cuban, West African, Arabic and Garifuna.
Instructors joining Salloum in the one-day event include Jim Copeman, a world fusion percussionist and drum circle facilitator; Bobby Bovenzi, a West African and Arabic drum and dance instructor; Donnalee Davidson, a Middle Eastern belly dance and Maori fire poi spinning instructor; and Lindsay Favell with Yamabiko Taiko.
The event will wrap up with a collaborative performance featuring Nankama West African Drum and Dance, Small Change World Fusion Band, Altarab Middle Eastern Trio, Garifuna Drumming from Belize and Yamabiko Taiko.
“There’s a lot of audience participation at the performance,” adds Salloum. “It’s very exciting for the audience to watch.”
Salloum discovered an interest in drumming at a young age. He recalls tapping on anything that would make a sound. It was a skill his parents saw talent in.
“I did my first gig when I was 15,” he recalls. “I always loved it.”
He loved it so much in fact, that he continued to play while he pursued a career as a doctor. Just three years ago he retired from medicine and resumed drumming full time.
Salloum performs both Middle Eastern and Afro-Cuban drumming and can be heard with jazz and Latin bands.
The Okanagan Rhythm Festival takes place Oct. 17 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. For more information visit www.okanaganrhythmfest.ca.
entertainment@kelowna.com
250-575-0613
See pictures from past drum workshops in the gallery below (photos contributed):
-
- Bobby Bovenzi is one of the instructors at the inaugural Okanagan Rhythm Festival. (Photo contributed)
Tags: bobby bovenzi, drumming, jim copeman, lindsay favell, okanagan rhythm festival, Trevor Salloum
