dear friends,

hope you all are having a good time out there.

it’s been a bit quiet around meinlpercussion.com in the past weeks – but now we’re back on track… and louder than ever!

A lot of things have happened recently, but i want to dedicate this blog entry to the film shooting i did in berlin this august. that was a total new and exciting experience for me. i remember when udo heubeck came to me and we talked about this idea – and i said "wow, let’s do this!"

so i began to write a rough story board and met with till and tobi from 55 films to start the pre-production. in the same time i asked meinl artist stephan maass to write the soundtrack for this image film – which was a tricky job! can you imagine to write a tune for a movie that doesn’t exist yet?! that being said, hats off to stephan maass and michael doerfler at tripbox studio vienna for this amazing job!!!

after finding the right locations we had to cast a lot of enthusiastic musicians from berlin area. and finally, we did the shoot. this was absolutely overwhelming! i had such a great team around me - everybody who was involved was full of passion and good spirits…

so, a huge THANK YOU to the whole team – whether being in front of the camera or behind – you all did a killer job!

stay tuned for the next updates at meinlpercussion.com or visit us at facebook.com

mario

Roland MEINL Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is an international leading manufacturer of musical instruments. We are searching for a motivated and inspired employee to work in our German headquarters as an international artist relations representative in our percussion division.

Requirements:

• Fluency in English/Spanish
• Experience with a wide range of percussion instruments
• A broad knowledge of, and a passion for music
• Ability to travel often
• A mind for marketing and creativity
• No “9-5” attitude

Please send a cover letter and resume to jobs(at)meinl.de

To all our friends and musicians!

From 11th - 14th June 2009 the LIMS - London International Music Show takes place at London ExCel. MEINL cymbals & percussion would love to welcome you there at our Booth Nr. K-8. We will have a huge choice of samples of both, cymbals and percussion and, adtitional to this, we will introduce the MEINL perfect ride tour where you can win your perfect ride cymbal.

If you´re around, just drop in and say hello, have a chat with us, try out some bits and get information about our latest news, products and artists.

all the best

Thomas

(Sales & Product Specialist UK)

Hi Everybody,

I'm deep in the Italian countryside, in a tiny little town called Monteparlo, in the Marche region. It's a very beautiful and tranquil place, far away from all the busy parts of Italy and all the tourism. It's a perfect setting for the very first "Tamburi Mundi Italia" frame drum festival. Tamburi Mundi is know as one of the best frame drum festivals in the world (more like a whole community, actually) and this is the first "chapter" in Italy. This festival has as its focus, naturally, the traditions of the Italian Tamburello family of frame drums. For me, it's a bit like a vacation with friends, some learning and a load of fun thrown in.

It's a real pleasure to be here! Astrid, Djamila and I packed up and came here yesterday by train. The trip was lovely through the mountains of the north, but somewhere along the way it started got very hot and uncomfortable as the train was delayed repeatedly. We were very glad to finally reach our destination and feel the cool breeze coming off the Adriatic Sea.

We were picked up by our host and organizer, Paolo Rossetti. He drove us way into the countryside to the old monestary in Monteparlo, where the festival is taking place. After a quick shower, he then took us to his home, where he and his mother whipped up a fantastic dinner for the weary travellers. We had specialties from the Marche region, things you don't find just anywhere. One of the best was a special way of making fried zucchini blossoms... no eggs in the batter, and with a bit of mozarella and sardine tucked inside... fried in the local olive oil, and served with the local wine, of course. Real Italian hospitality... So good!

So the festival kicks off tonight, and continues through monday. We are hanging out for the long run, taking tamburello classes. I'll be taking photos as well. So after the festival, I'll send in another report with some photos of this special time and this beautiful place. It's sure to be a great experience, and one YOU could consider for next year!

Molti Saluti,

Bill Saragosa

yes - i'm still alive! sorry for my long delay, but the past weeks went by way toooo quick...

what's going on at meinl percussion?

well, we're still working on the new website (the layouts i've seen so far are absolutely cool - thanks andi!). i hope we can launch the new performance in june/july. it will be very fresh and hip, but still clear and tidy.

we also got many new products in the pipe-line, that's why i'll have to fly to thailand next week keeping our factory busy as well... most of the prototypes are already done and looking / sounding good! special thanks to bill saragosa. i wish you a super relaxed time in italy buddy. it's okay that you leave me in the lurch ;-)

in regarding to new product videos - we will make them as soon as i'm back from bangkok. stephan maass, rüdiger maul, and josé cortijo will help me shooting them.

that's all for now. i still got many things to prepare before i leave next week.

btw. many thanks to everybody who send me new ideas and prototypes. i'm sorry that we can't realize all of them. some of them would make sense, but maybe another time...

take care, mario

Today is a little bit exciting... I'm waiting for a phone call from a nearby machine shop. They are working on a first prototype of a new product. As soon as they have it ready, I'll go over and take a look and kick the tires a bit. Then probably there will be some modifications followed by a second prototype.

I think we are very fortunate that the Master Machinist is also a drummer... ! No, we did not plan it that way, it just happened. It certainly does seem to help move the projects along, in any case.