November 2003

http://www.lpmusic.com/The_LP_Family/LP_Events/mont-drum-fest0.html

 

MONTREAL JAZZ FEST

LP Clinic Spices Up Montreal Drum Fest

 

From left to right: Javier Oquendo, Paoli Mejias and Marcos Lopez-Ayala

 

Hailing from the musically and rhythmically enchanted island of Puerto Rico, three of LP's artists, Paoli Mejias, Javier Oquendo and young timbalero phenom, 15 yr old Marcos Lopez-Ayala, added a bit of Caribbean spice to the line-up at this year's Montreal Drum Festival.

Cooking up a mix of African influenced folkloric rhythms such as bomba and plena as well as rhumba and salsa made a tasty percussive treat for a drummer filled audience hungry for a little rhythmic and cultural diversity.

This year's impressive clinician line-up also included an incredible performance by LP artist Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, who played tribute to John Bonham and Led Zeppelin. The Montreal Drum Festival held annually in November, celebrated it's 10th anniversary this year and is the largest, most successful drum festival of it's kind in Canada.