Singapore Drumfest will kick off the preliminaries rounds of the Singapore Band Challenge 2008 (SBC) and the Drum Challenge Asia 2008 (DCA) come July 12 at *scape, Youth Park.

Recognizing the tremendous pool of musicians and the emerging trend for local and regional talent, Singapore Drumfest is organizing a series of summer events that will actively promote performance, music culture and talent in all age groups, music genres and nationalities. With the resounding success of the Drum Circle Weekend that opened the series of events on June 7 and 8 at *scape, the Singapore Band Challenge and Drum Challenge Asia have attracted over 150 contestants at the auditions held over the weekend of June 28 and 29 at US Studios. The age categories for the Drum Challenge Asia are 20 & above, 19 & below and 12 & below. As for the Singapore Band Challenge, the two categories are 18 & above and 17 & below.

For the preliminaries rounds to be held on July 12, a total of 18 bands from the two SBC categories and a total of 24 drummers from the three DCA categories will battle it out for a much coveted slot in the semi-finals. The non-ticketed event is opened to the public and will run from 12pm – 4 pm for DCA and 6pm - 10pm for SBC at *scape. Over S$1000 worth of lucky draw prizes from Singapore Drumfest, MTV, Coke Zero, Flesh Imp, Ben & Jerry’s and more will also be given away to the audience that day.

This year’s shortlisted entries for SBC see a diversified lineup of genres ranging from trash metal, hard rock, pop rock, pop, screamo, acid jazz, drums N bass and more, fully showcasing the wide amount of talent found in both niche and palatable markets. With an exceptionally high quality of the bands at the auditions, competition was fierce and the judges decided to throw in one ‘wildcard’ band to the mix, upping the SBC quarterfinalists for the 18 & above category to a total of 13 bands.

And despite their young age, the five selected bands from the 17 & below category also impressed the judges at the auditions with their music maturity and appreciation of classic bands such as Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Megadeth.

Says Harold Lim, 16, one of the DCA contestants and drummer of Della Madre that performed “Burn” by Deep Purple and Yellow Matter Custard’s version of the Beatles’ classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the auditions: “Our band is mainly influenced by classic rock with a little bit of progressive metal, funk and fusion. The old stuff, they just have a lot more feel and dynamics to them.”

Henry Yong, 16, guitarist of the Perpetual Flame, is all ready to agree with Harold’s statement. “The classic stuff has a lot of attitude to them as compared to the modern songs that seem to have less amount of work and technicalities put into them. But as musicians, we always try to keep an open mind to new music and will explore different musical directions for the band.”

While most band competitions boast cash prizes, Singapore Drumfest also aims to provide a platform upon which promising musicians can flourish as successful artists. Apart from attractive cash prizes and vouchers worth over S$50,000 to be won in the two competitions, Singapore Drumfest will provide the winning talent of the SBC 18 & above category full artist development and marketing support in the form of a Band Management Contract estimated at the value of S$10,000 from August 2008 till June 2009.
For DCA, there’s even a more astounding group of talented drummers, especially in the 12 & below category. Although child prodigies are mostly associated with classical instruments such as piano and violin, drumming has taken a center stage with young musicians today. For example, this year’s contestants include Davy Tan Teck Wee, a six-year-old drum prodigy who excels in Taiko drumming and the 10-year-old drummer boy, Muhammad Farihin Farkhan Bin Nashir.
    
Ethan Ong, aged 9 and winner of last year’s junior drum champion, has risen up the ranks as the official ambassador for Singapore Drumfest 2008 as well. Arguably touted as Singapore’s next music prodigy, the pint-sized drummer is only one example of many who has yet to fulfill a professional ambition in the field of music. Singapore Drumfest, the first and only major modern drumming festival of its kind in Asia, is here to help pave the way for the success of Ethan and talented musicians like him.

To add on to the excitement of competition on July 12, Singapore Drumfest will also hold the World’s Fastest Drummer - ASIA (WFD) Contest, a new initiative to inspire all drummers to push themselves to play beyond their capabilities in order to improve their skills. Additionally, a Percussion Duo Competition has been added to promote percussive skills.

The semi-finals for both SBC and DCA are scheduled for July 26 at the Arena, Clark Quay. In the following weeks to come, there will be a Finalists Preview for both competitions at *scape Youth Park on August 2. The date also marks the final showdown for the DCA 12 & under category, which will see four young drummers vying for the title of the junior champion. The Grand Finals for the SBC and the DCA will be held at The Arena, Clark Quay on August 16 and August 23 respectively. The entire series of events will end off with a Winners Showcase at *scape on August 30.
The electrifying buzz from this series of summer events will culminate on September 13 and 14 at the Fort Canning Park for the Singapore Drumfest 2008 main event titled Concert In The Park. The two-day festival that features an all-new experience of ‘educational during day and entertaining at night’ programming and will see an eclectic lineup of both international and regional musicians. Further details will be announced soon.

For more information about the competitions and prizes, log on to the official website at:  www.singaporedrumfest.com