Digital Be-In 12: Live Netcast
| Digital Be-In 12: Live Netcast | |
|
|
At left: Chris Deckker, Irina Mikhailova and Alex Newman stretch the boundries of electronica, fusing tribal rhythms and chants with cutting-edge techno beats. It started with a beat. Then a chant. Then more beats, many more beats, and more chants, many more chants. A Native American trio sat the back of the stage drumming in a rhythm that was played so long ago, before any of us were in the supposedly New World. This was their land, free of the influence of European thought and imperialism. Them and the animals, using the land with respect.
Photo, above right: Medicine Drum Founder, Chris Deckker, enchants the crowd with his masterful percussion.
When asked, these unearthly Earthly be-ins described the Medicine Drum Experience in this fantastical way: “Modern day Jefferson Airplane,” said one. “Tribal-techno blend of sampled and live music,” said another knowingly. “Trance-tribal dance with ethnic overtones,” said another know-it-all. And as for the dancer, spinning and mesmerizing, one observer noted, “She was hot! Why not?” So was the fire, so was the performance. So was the night… Photo, above left: Irina Mikhailova lights up with fellow ritual theater priestess. ------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Glaser is the editor of 360News, a daily email newsletter giving you the top world news story from more viewpoints. Contact him at editor@360News.org
| |
MEDICINE DRUM: THE FIRE AND THE BEAT
Then after a few songs with this beat, this eldest beat of this land, came Medicine Drum, a thrashing electro-beat, mixed and matched with the thump of Chris Deckker’s bongos. A pregnant pause (for Angela and Amy), and then came the singer, with a crown of gold, a crown of fire. She chanted over the driving electronic beat, her head on fire, a dancer spreading more fire around the stage. As the drums went faster and faster, more dancers joined the mix, one throwing fire on chains in front of the stage, becoming a fiery front for the band with the beats as a frenetic backdrop.
The crowd of human be-ins, with heads full of speeches, spoken word, dance and ritual, were ready to move their hairy, sweaty bodies to the throbbing beat. Slowly, surely, they were starting to move, starting to sway, bouncing themselves in a trance. Feeling the music inside their minds, their hearts, their souls, deep down to their innermost be-in.