this July/August Moria and I had the honor of attending the Sacheon International Percussion Festival in Korea with BDS’s world renown ISSAM HOUSHAN who was invited to come showcase his exceptional percussion skills in this famous exhibit! The festival featured artist from 7 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES and Moria and I got to dance to help give them the real idea of what Issam’s Syrian culture of drumming is all about: Communication of drumming and dancing!! AND WHAT AN HONOR IT WAS!! (Picts to follow) We performed nightly for a week on a stage outdoors where the backdrop is the bay, evening sky, mountains and beautiful bridges that light up in different colors throughout the night! Breathe taking, truly! We had 10 minutes to represent Syria nightly. Issam began by himself impressing the audience with his unprecedented technique. Then Issam and I played a Tunisian transposed folk tune with me on Bagpipes and Moria danced to is (also seen on the Tribal Fusions DVD) and of course everyone loved that organic element! Then Moria was a supporting tabla player with Issam while I danced a section of a partially improvised drum solo and then for the big finish – Issam played loud and proud and Moria and I danced a drum solo segment together! AND THE CROWDS WENT WILD!! The wind was blowing the humid air across us, the beautiful water behind us and 2 jumbo trons giving the 2,000 people cheering us on a closer view!! Our act was nestled between other foreign representations from: Steele Drummers from France, a Siam Ensemble from Thailand featuring 2 performance martial artists’ (Mine and Moria’s new best friends), a Croatian University experimental percussive group, Japanese Taiko drummers (amazing), Singapore Urban Drum Crew (our buddie’s), and Korean traditional artists that dance and drum at the same time, tight rope walk and wear these REALLY COOL hats that have a ribbon attached to it and WHILE PLAYING A DRUM, AND DANCING, THEY SPIN THEIR HEAD AROUND IN A CIRCLE TO KEEP THE RIBBON GOING IN A SYNCOPATED CIRCULAR SHAPE!! I was in spinning heaven!! We went to the Japanese Sea (later found out it is the Korean Sea and the Japanese paid off the mapmakers to name it after Japan) and swam in the ocean and laid on the very busy beach,  went to the most elaborate Buddhist Temple i have EVER SEEN with a 250,000 year old Tree carved into a massive Buddha hollowed out so you can walk inside and leave prayers and offerings and CLICKING COWS that click for blessings! We did numerous TV interviews, participated in a parade that promoted the festival, taught a workshop, an even received the prestigious honor of being the only performers for the Mayor at a welcome Luncheon for all the Foreign Representatives in this festival! We Came, We Saw, WE CONQUERED! Well, impressed at least! Issam was so happy to be among musicians who understood his common language instead of teaching us dancers on tour with questions like “why is that one called a half-note again?” (i’m just joking ladies! We do pretty well, and we are so lucky to have a great teacher like Issam) Sacheon was a very clean and welcoming city and i miss our trips to Holley’s Coffee every morning for our Latte’s to discuss our daily schedule already! I was truly honored to be a part of it and I hope we can go back soon with the WASSAN PHAROON!