A documentary about an unusual project is coming to San Antonio on Wednesday and the focus of that film is probably quite familiar to many of you. He's Stewart Copeland, known for providing the tight percussion for one of the most popular pop bands ever, The Police.
Copeland is heading to San Antonio for a pair of events, events that wouldn't have happened without a fascination, starting as a young man, with the sound of Gamelan drums from Bali and Java.
"What kind of land did these strange sounds come from?" he wondered. "On the way home from a tour in Australia I stopped by there and was just blown away. It's probably the place in the world with the most concentration of culture of every kind."
That visit started a lifelong fascination with Gamelan percussive styles and instruments. Fast-forward a quarter century.
"A phone call comes in from Dallas, Texas. And it's these Texans who have a drum ensemble called D'Drum."
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra invited D'Drum to commission a piece for performance with the orchestra.
"So they did. Ending up with me."
Copeland wrote the score and the resulting difficult, amazing and very musical 2-year process ended up in a documentary that's showing Wednesday night at the Palladium Theater. He will introduce that documentary to the audience.
"And I will be talking and explaining and describing what you're about to see."
Not only that, but D'Drum will be performing that score with the San Antonio Symphony on Friday and Saturday night at the Tobin Center. What's it like watching others perform your music? He gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"Oh, it is a wonderful experience. I get to not break a sweat, I don' t need to change my t-shirt, I don't need a shower after the show. I can take my ease at the back of a hall watching those five D'Drum guys sweat it out."
For more on Stewart Copeland go here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHdf9ITycaQ
