As an old music lover and lover of rock music, I want to present to you a very interesting project by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
Ringo Starr is justly proud of the drums on "Come Together". The Beatles' drummer never impressed with his special technique of using the
instrument - like the rest of the members of the line-up, but he had what was more important for the band - the ability to come up with original,
non-standard rhythmic patterns - although at times this served as a reason for quarrels. As a result, Ringo was named one of the most influential
drummers in the history of rock music for no coincidence. His style was copied by many.
John Lennon's little masterpiece, the seemingly simple song "Come Together", after fifty years after the band's breakup, suddenly turned out to be
one of the most sought-after by the young generation. Over the past year,
it has been listened to 447 million times on Spotify alone!
When the idea to use the song to fundraise for the WhyHunger campaign to end hunger worldwide and everyone's right to good food came up, Ringo
willingly joined in. The action was named "Drum Together". The idea was to make a special arrangement for the song based on an extremely advanced
drum part.
It turned out very interesting. At the call of the ex-Beatle, the project included many famous musicians - more than a hundred drummers and
percussionists! Never before in history have so many percussion instruments been used in one composition. Celebrities who participated in the
recording include many famous names: Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Max Weinberg (E-Street Band), Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam), Stewart Copeland (The
Police), Nico McBrane (Iron Maiden), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Simon Kirk (Bad Company), Alan White (Yes, worked with Lennon) and many others (see
the full list here).
The arrangers worked on the composition thoroughly, turning the song into a whole symphonic suite, adding fragments in a typical jazz and funky style.
The pianist even managed to quote Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" in his short solo. A large violin group, a female choir and a big
band were involved - in addition to drummers, there were more than 50 other musicians. Almost every drummer got the opportunity to show individual
skill and play a small break (solo insert of percussion instruments). The solo parts are very short, but performed with such tremendous drive that
listening and watching the performance of top-class professionals is fascinating, as if it were a dynamic action movie.
As a result, a 4-minute song, like the Beatles had, turned into a 10-minute song, which can be viewed as an encyclopedia of percussion instruments,
different drum tuning methods, drum kits arrangement, different styles and manners of drumming. And at the same time, get acquainted with the best in
performing skills on this instrument.
The entire recording was made remotely, which, with so many participants, became a serious technical challenge, which was brilliantly resolved. Each
frame in the video has five to twelve drummers playing.
I will allow myself to convey to you my personal opinion. Unfortunately, now even rock music is also subject to ideological, political, economic and
other vectors of the development of society. Rock music has ceased to be pure art, it has become part of propaganda. Since it is the Russians who are
least of all susceptible to Western propaganda due to their civilizational characteristics, it is the Russians who can assess any project as
objectively as possible.
I think that the recording is amazing, all the musicians are great professionals, it looks and listens harmoniously. But. as the Russians say, "there
is a spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey." And here 2 reasons cut the eyes for Russians:
1. The complete absence of white men among the vocalists. This song is a typically masculine composition, made by whites for whites. And this is
unnatural.
2. The overwhelming predominance of black women among vocalists. Yes, they are good at singing vocals, but this is a male song, and a song of white
men.
I am not a racist, but, in my opinion, in the pursuit of mythical tolerance with excellent performance, this composition completely lost its spirit,
its original essence. The song has become an inedible substance in a very beautiful and tolerant wrapper. Sorry if I offended someone with my
frankness.
The video itself starts out by saying 'The Greatest Collection of Drummers Ever Performing on One Song'
The "Greatest Collection of Drummers" is not the same thing as a 'collection of the greatest drummers'.
So while there are some great drummers among this group, these are definitely NOT the "100 best drummers in the world".
Sorry, but having it worded that way in your title really bugged me.
Now that I got that out, I'll listen to the track.
eta:
I agree with your critique about the vocals.
It's an interesting concept, but honestly, I think the most impressive part is the mixing of it all. That could not have been easy to put it all
together. I wonder how long and how many people it took to do that.
edit on 10/31/21 by BrokenCircles because: (no reason given)
I could be wrong here, but I think you missed what I was trying to imply.
The sole purpose for this was for charity. I was just pointing out that they haven't raised hardly anything yet. $5,000 in a little less than a month
is practically nothing when your goal is to end world hunger.
You'd think that would be something people would care about. Instead, some woman whose hairdresser cut off too much hair could get $10,000 in 1 day if
she cried about it loud enough on TikTok or whatever.
edit on 10/31/21 by BrokenCircles because: (no reason given)
a reply to: RussianTroll
Impressive list of drummers and percussionists, many I would have to look up, but the initial standout on that list for me was Dame Evelyn Glennie. I
was surprised to see her name. She's a world-class percussionist. Not as surprising to see is Meytal Cohen among a few others.
There will be no end to world hunger until the people of this world realize who is causing that hunger and ends their reign of terror.