Jul. 30th - August 3, 2008 ~ Castleton State College ~Vermont
KoSA USA
For the thirteenth year now, the serene
countryside of Vermont roared to life with the thunderous
sounds of drums and percussion in the little village of Castleton.
KoSA International Percussion Workshops and Festival held its annual
drum camp this past July 30th to August 3rd at Castleton State
College. Established by Montreal percussionist Aldo Mazza, KoSA's
theme this year encouraged all who attended this unique event to "change their world" by furthering their knowledge in what KoSA
promised to be a magical "fix" of drums and percussion.
This year's participants, coming from as far as Turkey and ranging in age
from 8 to 74, experienced a thrilling week of intense, hands-on percussion
training with the finest artists in the world. Only at KoSA can you take
intimate small group lessons in Taiko,
amazing instruction with a world-renowned hand drum master and on the same
day take a fusion lesson with a legendary artist such as Chester
Thompson followed by a rock lesson with Jonathan Mover!
Other celebrated artists this year at KoSA included:
- Memo Acevedo
(Tito Puente)
- Cyro Baptista (Paul Simon)
- Ignacio Berroa (Dizzy
Gillespie)
- Mario DeCiutiis (KAT Electronic percussion)
- Kenwood
Dennard (Sting)
- Marc Dicciani (University of the Arts/Philadelphia)
- Dom Famularo (druming ambassador)
- Gordon Gottlieb (Steely
Dan/Julliard)
- Arnie Lang (New York Philharmonic)
- Russ Lawton (Trey
Anastasio)
- Marco Lienhard (Japanese Taiko master)
- Aldo Mazza
(Répercussion)
- Allan Molnar (Nelly Furtado)
- Mario Monaco (Al di
Meola)
- Jonathan Mover (Shakira)
- Emil Richards (LA studio legend)
- Jim Royle (steel drum ensemble)
- Bobby Sanabria (Arturo Sandoval)
- Rajna Swaminathan (South Indian artist)
- Chester Thompson (Phil
Collins and Genesis)
- Glen Velez (Four-time Grammy Award master frame
drummer)
- Michael Wimberly (West African Drumming) with Mamadou Dahoué
(West African Dance) and Nancy Zeltsman (Berklee College).
- The nightly
performances also featured the KoSA rhythm section: Oscar Stagnaro
on bass (Paquito D'Rivera), Rafael Alcala on piano (Manhatttan
Transfer).
At this world-class event, participants and faculty lived and ate
together while exchanging ideas about drumming virtually all day and
night. Besides the hands-on daily classes conducted by their idols,
attendees had the opportunity to play with the rhythm section in
residence, participate in masterclasses and various ensembles and perform
in nightly jam sessions and a formal recital. Every evening participants were treated
to exciting concerts as part of the KoSA Music Festival which was open to the
public. These magical evening concerts featured the KoSA faculty performing
solo and in musical collaboration in a memorable music-making event. In true KoSA style,
an estimated 1000 drum and percussion enthusiasts witnessed how the sheer energy of these
world-class artists can literally shake the Vermont green mountains! The event culminated
with a grand finale faculty concert which was recorded live.
KoSA was generously sponsored this year by:
Asano Taiko, Beatnik, Bosphorus, Cooperman,Canadian Musician,
D'Addario Foundation, Drum Magazine, Drumhead Magazine, Drummers
Collective, Evans, Gibraltar, Hansenfutz, Hudson Music, KAT, Lang
Percussion, LP,Ludwig/Musser, Mapex, Mike Balter Mallets, Meinl,
Modern Drummer Magazine, PAS,Paiste, Premier, ProMark, RegalTip,Remo,
Sabian, Shure, Stagg, Tama, Taye, Toca, WB, XL, Yamaha, Zildjian.
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