Over the weekend, I attended the Brooklyn Museum for Tom Tom Magazine's The Oral History of Female Drummers, an event to showcase the undocumented history of female drummers and beat-makers. It was hosted at the museum as part of their Target First Saturday: She Knows No Bounds.

Put plain and simple: it was awesome.

The event featured 20 female drummers and one beatboxer. The drummers were dispersed throughout the four-floor museum, creating their stages in hallways, on staircases, beside installations, and among the various exhibits. The beatboxer was the messenger traveling from drummer to drummer "to translate the beat or conversation between them," as described by Tom Tom Magazine. Once being introduced to the beat, the drummer would reinterpret it by infusing her own rhythmic heartbeat into the piece, and then the beatboxer would carry it on to the next drummer who, in turn, reimagined it with her own flare.

It was a powerful experience. 

I only encountered the beatboxer once as the event was a fluid experience where the audience was free to move about the space as they pleased, however, the drummers alone were captivating in their own right. 

At one point, I was in the delightful company of two young girls who ran in and plopped themselves on the couch in front of me, just taking it all in.

An event for all ages.

One of my favorite drummers was this woman stationed by a red barn exhibit. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, I don't know the name of the exhibit because I was so preoccupied by the drummers that I forgot to look. That's forgivable, right?

I know, I'll do better next time.

Back to the drummer -- she one was my favorites. Of the drummers I saw, she had one of the largest and most interesting kits, which including a cymbal that looked to be melted and chained on top of another. I had never seen that before; I was intrigued. I was also really taken by her rhythms and the way she used her kit to create various sounds, including striking the rims and seamlessly infusing cowbell into her beats. The confidence and easy at which she navigated her kit was mesmerizing, and I stayed at her stage for quite a while. 

This was one of the most enriching and inspiring events that I'd been to in a while. It felt like a music festival of 20 stages, though indoors, free and with art exhibitions to accompany you on your journey from one stage to the next.

Like I said, it was awesome.

For more on Tom Tom Magazine and female beat-makers, visit their website here.

xxChris