Hello friends,

I proudly announce Holger Mertin is now an official member of the Meinl Percussion family.

Holger Mertin is an international touring percussionist and drummer. His educational background includes the study of “Musical Ethnology” in Cologne/Germany and in London/UK.

His playing combines a deep sensibility with technical accuracy. As an open minded musician, he plays different musical styles such as experimental jazz, pop, and world music.

Along with writing and performing music, Holger writes for the German drum magazine Sticks. He hosts drum clinics and performs at the Musical College of Cologne/Germany as repetiteur for modern, contemporary dance-styles.

Holger;s most recent projects include: Holger Mertin-Solo-Performance, a play performance of "Robin Hood" in Cologne, the Duet of Ali Haurand - Holger Mertin, the Duet of Jaki Liebezeit - Holger Mertin, "Walter-Ruttmann-Days" for Filmforum NRW/Museum Ludwig Cologne, the Dance-/ Music-Performance "Durst", the experimental Avantgarde-/Jazz-Formations mÄÄr and PEM.

pfueeti

Mario

We are proud to present the winner of the frame drum video contest - Frederique. She achieved with his video the highest ranking in this contest. She is the lucky winner of a new Meinl Tar. Congratulations!
The next video contest, in November, December and January, is all about the shakers. Take advantage of this opportunity to win an exclusive Meinl shaker set by posting a video of you playing one or more Meinl Shakers.
Helge

Hey Everybody!

I hope you had an awesome summer and are enjoying life and Familia this fall!

Please check out the the season premiere of "Dexter" on Showtime. The episode is called "Our Father". It features Bermudez Triangle tune "Cumbia Cubana". I wrote the song with Guitarist Craig Sharmat. It will be playing all week on Showtime through Saturday October 4th. Talented Latino actor Jimmy Smits has been added to the cast. The song is in a beach scene with a black guitarist.

The song "Cumbia Cubana" features Cuban singer/songwriter Ali Olmo and her beloved partner Kathryn Skatula on Background vocals. My beautiful friend Kathryyn Skatula went to the angels recently from complications of Lou Gehrig disease. I love you Kathryn and will never forget all of your precious words of encouragement . Thank you for sharing your wonderful voice with me!

Enjoy the show if you have Showtime!

Viva La Musica!

Much Love To All!

Jorge Bermudez

A cast of talented young women take you on a fantastic journey through city streets, fast moving trains, vast oceans, and open sky. This concert of music and motion will be unlike anything you have ever seen before.

the MUSIC: Drawing from a variety of styles and emotions, the music blends winds, percussion, as well as an assortment of keyboard and electronic instruments into a wide range of musical landscapes by utilizing classical, jazz, and contemporary idioms.

the CAST: Odyssey unites the worlds most talented female musician/dancer/athletes, creating a kaleidoscope of color, sound, and movement. Odyssey is comprised of vibrant young performers who can move and dance while performing virtuosic musical lines and executing mesmerizing visual feats with various props and apparatus.

the REHEARSALS: Rehearsals have been taking place in Palm Springs, California from late August through October 2008.

the TOUR: Tour the amazing country of Japan! With at least 47 performances scheduled from October through December of 2008, you will visit cities such as: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, among many others!

hi there,

quite recently we provided a local kindergarten with a bunch of free nino djembes in order to support their early musical education.

today i got a letter from a happy a kindergarten teacher, elfriede thaler, who enjoys the new african sounds that come out of their playground.

the kids love the instruments and they start jamming as often as they can.

early musical education is very important for kids age 3 and up. it helps them to improve their attention span and retentive abilities.

good to hear they like our present and enjoy drumming. i wish i would have started playing drums in that age...

take care,
mario

hallo from vienna!

this year I again came to gutenstetten to the 4th meinl drumfestival.

I did a cajon masterclass on the second day of the festival and it was really a lot of fun.

the tent was packed and it was great to perform and teach in front of so many interested people.the athmosphere on the festival was great,organisation perfect and it`s fun to meet all the people there.

thanks to to the meinl crew.it was great to be part of the festival again.

stephan

hi friends,

it's getting a little bit hectic now i have to admit with all the final preparations for our drum fest this coming weekend. anyways - i just wanted to let you all know that as of now we have four live webcams online on meinldrumfestival.com.

cams from left to right: area of the percussion exhibition, foreway of the main-stage tent, stage, and backstage area.

every minute a new live-picture is being uploaded automatically. right now there is not much to see, but starting tomorrow morning the stage and PA will be built and set up followed by soundchecks on friday and then the two festival days, saturday and sunday. the cams will go offline next monday.

talk to you soon

mario

The whole idea for the project is centered in playing bongo around musical scores that lack percussion in their original versions, a trait that forces me to play in musical situations quite alien and new for the bongo. Obviously, I avoided playing scores that had a somewhat latin feel and headed for more risky stuff. Of course, recording the live performance is one of the main characteristics of the project, being my in my best interest the DIFFUSION of my proposal though Youtube, a media that allows my to present the world this vision of the bongo and its unlimited possibilities.
 

So, this way I have played the bongo for themes like Rimsky Korsakov´s  The Flight of the Bumblebee and Boby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma´s version of Barrierés Sonata for two Cellos, an adventure that allowed me to hear how the bongo worked within an academical background. I have also played scores from solo guitarrists like Andy McKee and Don Ross, and I also traveled through the musical landscape of the tango and the milonga. Up until now, since I have received amazing feedback, I´m proposing myself new musical adventures in search for new horizons for this musical instrument.
 

How far do I want to go with this project? Well, as far as music and my ideas allow. Of course, I´m still looking fot the possibility of playing live shows, supported, maybe, with images, doing a multimedia kind of thing.
 

The Future:

Now I´m preparing new videos for the project. Through Youtube I have met musical colleagues that want to share and develop joint efforts that can be added to the project. Currently I am working with a Colombian in a Fugue from his penmanship, it is a venture that will soon become what I´ve called The Bongo Project and Friends. So, I could well say the journey is just about to begin....


keep on drumming

Lerryns ;-)

Howdy from Nashville, by way of Asheville.

On August 2nd, I attended one of many music festivals that take place in Asheville, North Carolina throughout the year. This one was called Riverfest, and was sponsored by one of Meinl USA’s percussion dealers, Musician’s Workshop. For those of you not familiar with Asheville, this tourist destination and art community is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and was named one of the world’s top 12 must-see destinations for 2007.

Musician’s Workshop owners Becky and Frank Dosier took me downtown the night before the festival to see Asheville’s famous drum circle. We also enjoyed a fabulous dinner at one of Asheville’s many local eateries. I was pleased to see an assortment of Meinl percussion represented at the drum circle.

Saturday morning we set up the Musician’s Workshop booth at the festival which included African Rope Tuned Djembes, Congas, Bongos, Cajons, Tambourines, and Doumbeks.......all from Meinl. There was also a wide assortment of Nino percussion.

Dave Mathes, a local drummer and percussionist even got some time on stage between bands to demonstrate most of Meinl’s percussion to the crowd.

We had a blast and it was encouraging to see such a sizable percussion user community and presence in such a popular area.

Check out the pictures!

Hello friends,

I proudly announce José Cortijo is now an official member of the Meinl Percussion family.

As an author, soloist, band member or teacher - José is one of the most successful percussionists in Europe.

He was born in Spain and has worked for artists like Jon Lord, Al Jarreau, NDR Big Band, Gary Burton, and many more. His extensive function as a tutor and an author lead him to the Staatliche Hochschule for Music and performing Arts in 1994, where he became the first percussion professor in 2003.

Mario