Winner
Brendon van Rooien
stands with his new
Pearl Export Series Kit.
Click on the image to
see a larger picture.

Drum Tribe
Click on the image to
see a larger picture.

On Saturday 25th September in Horizon View Shopping Centre, Matt's Music held the first event of it's kind. A Battle of the Drummers. When the planning for the event began, many were uncertain whether or not an event of this kind would get the support it needed.
The was space for only 20 competitors and when Matt's Music quickly filled the slots as well as received numerous calls afterwards from players wanting to enter, they knew that the event was going to be a huge success.
Entrants varied in age from as young as 12 years old up to about 35 years old. Matt's Music brought in judges one of which was S.A.Drummer Georg Voros who is currently working on launching S.A's first drum magazine called S.A.Drums and Percussion.

Click Here to see a list of the competitors.

The days events began with a percussion group called Drum Tribe. They helped break the ice and help the first competitor relax a little before going on. A jam packed audience applauded each drummer on as they displayed their drumming abilities. The standard of the competition was incredibly high, many people were amazed at the level of the young players. The youngest competitor 12 yr. old A.Britz, shocked the audience by outplaying many of his older competitors. Another surprise for the audience was 18 yr. old Taryn Young who had an incredible double bass ability that left almost every male in the audience with their mouths open. She proved very quickly that she could easily compete alongside the male drummers.

Before the announcement of the winner was made, S.A.Drummer and teacher Andries Visser gave a small ensemble clinic and showed the young players what being an excellent drummer is all about. Andries quickly showed that he is a force to be reckoned with as a player and several of the incredible players in the competition were his students, including the winner.
At the end of the days events, Georg Voros had the pleasure of announcing the winner. He commented that he was blown away at the standard of playing and that the decision was very difficult. He ended by saying "...The future of S.A.Drumming is in good hands."
A very excited Brandon van Rooien took the honours. He had incorporated a small audience participation into his performance and the judges felt that over and above his incredible playing, that was the icing on the cake.

S.A.Drummer would like to thank Matt and Vanessa from Matt's Music as well as all the Matt's Music Staff for allowing us to be a part of this incredible event and we hope to see the same event this time next year. It will no doubt be even bigger and better.

S.A.Drummer would also like to thank the drummers who competed, because without these players taking the chance and playing there would not have been such a successful event.

Lastly we would like to thank all the sponsors, Crosstick Percussion, Pearl Drums, Matt's Music and Horizon View Shopping Centre for seeing a future in S.A.Drumming.

To find out more about Matt's Music go to the S.A.Dealers link on the S.A.Drummer web site.