Cape Breton drummer and Marion Bridge resident Bruce Aitken is making history as the first ever Canadian drummer ever to be invited to the prestigious Australian Ultimate Drummers Weekend festival being staged at the Darebin Arts Centre & Entertainment Centre, Preston in Melbourne Australia on the week end of July 26th and 27th 2008.
The festival now in its 16th year is the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and the brain child of founders Frank & Rosanna Corniola.
Aitken who has many ECMA nominations and Music Nova Scotia Nominations was named Musician of the Year for Music Nova Scotia in 2004, the first drummer to receive that honor as well.
Festival organizer Frank Corniola invited Aitken at the recommendation of the World Ambassador of drumming Dom Famularo, who described Aitken’s performance with Ed Mann (Frank Zappa) at this years Cape Breton International Drum Festival as “Improvised music at its highest level”
Aitken is delighted to be asked and honored to be chosen as the first drummer to represent Canada, “I am blown away by the opportunity that Frank and Dom have presented me and have worked hard to reach this level of performance, going back and playing in front of my peers in Melbourne where I lived before immigrating to Canada is going to be very very special, plus the fact that I will be performing in front of my daughter Becci in this type of setting for the first time, it will be very emotional”
Aitken will share the main stage with some of today’s biggest and most influential drummers including Billy Ward(Joan Osbourne, BB King), Mike Mangini(Steve Vai), Horacio Hernandez (Santana),Clayton Cameron(Tony Bennett), and many others. He will be joined on stage by his oldest friend and bass player extraordinaire Roger McLachlan ( Little River Band, Pyramid, John Farnham).
Aitken performs at 01.50pm Saturday July 26th 2008, and is sponsored by Sonor, Zildjian, Promark and Remo.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
