Friday, April 20, 2012

Filipina drummer a finalist in 'Hit Like A Girl'


MANILA, Philippines – A 25-year-old Filipina is among the 15 finalists of the international drumming contest for women, “Hit Like A Girl 2012”.
Karmi Santiago’s name was announced during the live webcast on DrumChannel.com.
“I’m not just your ordinary drummer girl. I’m a musician. A lover. An enthusiast. A teacher. And will always be a learner,” says Santiago’s short description of herself which she submitted to the contest along with her three-minute video entry.
The Hit Like A Girl website explained that the 15 finalists include the top 12 popular vote recipients, as well as three wild-card entrants chosen by the contest’s sponsors.
“The finalists’ videos will be judged by a panel of world-class drum artists, including Sheila E, Jess Bowen, Kim Thompson, Dawn Richardson, Suzie Ibarra and Hannah Ford, with the grand prize winners announced on May 1, 2012,” according to a contest statement.
Santiago has been playing the drums for 10 years and has covered almost all music genres, including jazz, classical, pop, soul, rock and alternative.
“When I grow old, I want to see myself still sitting on the drummer’s seat, doing my thing,” Santiago’s short biography on the contest website says.
But Santiago is not only aiming to win. She also wants to share her knowledge to other musicians like her.
“I also want to impart to others the things that I have and have learned as a musician. I want them to experience the joy of expressing my feelings and emotions as I play each beat,” she said.
Hours before the announcement was made, Santiago already thanked in advance all those who supported her entry to the contest.
“Sa lahat po ng nag support, thanks po! Ma-qualify o hindi, tuloy pa rin ang musika!. Let His will be done!” wrote Santiago on her Facebook account.
Aside from Santiago, the other finalists are:
Arianna Fanning,
"Pearl Girl" Mandy Tieman,
Adriana "Gata" Pinaya Johanssen,
Illari Arbe,
Monica (Moni) Del Valle,
Nikki Blout (NIKnSTIX),
Jess De Vries,
Drashti Thakkar (D.T.),
Taryn Lee Young (TarynDrumfire),
Janitra Priyanka Vaswani (JP Millenix),
Ankita Bhardwaj (Basement),
Lindsey Raye Ward,
Agnieszka Matuszczak (agadrummer), and
De'Arcus Curry (dbaby).
Contestants will get a chance to win more than $10,000 in drums and other prizes.
Contest organizer Phil Hood said they were overwhelmed by the response they received.
“With well over 350 entries from around the world, more than 300,000 votes cast, 10,000,000 page views thus far and as many as 12,000 visitors per day, what started out as the first contest for girl drummers became a global phenomenon for the women’s drumming community,” Hood said.

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