GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT at The Overture Center

Friday, October 26, 2007 at 8:00 pm $22 - $48 It’s all about the rhythms when GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT takes the stage at Overture Center for the Arts on Friday, October 26 at 8 p.m. in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, Madison. Led by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, this international ensemble of percussion masters embodies the spirit of the contemporary world music movement. GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT features Hart along with tabla artist Zakir Hussain, Nigerian talking-drum virtuoso Sikiru Adepoju and Latin percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo. This reunion tour was sparked by the 15th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1991 album Planet Drum, which topped the Billboard World Music Chart for 26 weeks and won the first-ever World Music Grammy. The tour is the group’s first in almost a decade. It also marks the resumption of an artistic relationship between Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain that goes back to the late 1960s. For Hart, GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT is an opportunity to explore the sociocultural history of percussion and take the art of drumming to the next level. “This is a deep drumming groove.  We’re taking the archaic rhythm worlds into outer space ... It’s a sound yoga of processed acoustic percussion headed straight for the trance zone that becomes a dance of ancient and modern worlds. Deep drumming is a skeleton key into these realms.” Drummers in the Madison area are invited to take part in two special events before the show: a workshop and a community drum circle. The workshop is for experienced drummers; it will be held in the Wisconsin Studio at Overture Center on Friday, October 26 from 4:30-6 p.m. Lead by percussionist and educator Helen Bond from Grayslake, Illinois, the workshop will focus on djembes and dununs (base drums) used in the traditional music of Guinea and West Africa. Cost for the workshop is $10 with a ticket to the show and $15 without a ticket. The community drum circle will be held in Overture Hall Lobby from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Participants can bring any rhythm instrument, including drums, tambourines, shakers or just their hands for clapping! Drum circles can range in size from a handful of players to thousands of drummers. The record number of participants in a drum circle is 4,504, set when Mickey Hart appeared at Earthdance: The Global Festival for Peace on September 18, 2004. Drum circles celebrate a community’s innate creativity and connect individuals through a common purpose of self-expression. Overture’s community drum circle is FREE and open to the public. It will be facilitated by Helen Bond and other local drummers. People who take part in Overture’s drum circle will be able to safely check and store their drums and other instruments during the GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT performance. Tickets to GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT are available for $48, $42, $36 and $22. Purchase tickets by phone at 608.258.4141, or online at www.overturecenter.com. Children under the age of six will not be admitted.