Interview

This is an interview with Elijah Mutanda, how he started off his music career as a drummer and how who progressed to the winner of Drummer of the Year 2011.

______ Magazine:

 Tell us about your upbringing and how it influenced your choice in music.

Elijah:

“Okay, I come from a town in Kent called Tonbridge and I was brought up in a Christian household. Therefore most of my background choice in music has always been gospel. Although I was occasionally attracted by the sounds of secular music, I always found a way of restricting myself to only gospel music.”

______ Magazine:

 Tell about your favourite artists, then and now.

Elijah:

“As I have said I always used to listen to gospel music and from a young age, I was introduced to the different types of gospel music that was out there. It came as a shock to because I had only known the choir singing type of gospel music. Then I began to know music that brought Pop, RnB, Reggae, Rap and even techno to the gospel scene. At the time, that type of thing wasn’t as popular as it is now; people didn’t feel as though it was still gospel. But I would listen artists like Kirk Franklin, Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Sherwin Gardner and CeCe Winans who all did and still do produce different types of gospel music to the other. Now I still listen the same artists as I did back then, I just have a much bigger selection; my iTunes is packed with hundreds of songs that are all gospel just with a twist. Although now I do try and listen to songs that have unique drumbeats that I could just learn and add to my collection. Constantly more artists are joining the scene. I particularly like and would recommend a new American gospel rapper named Lecrae Moore, simply because I’ve always liked rap. In fact I used to do a little rapping myself but that’s another story.

______ Magazine:

 How were you introduced to the amazing art of drumming?

Elijah:

“Well, as I was regularly attending church on a Sunday morning, at the age of 13, I began to notice the unique beats and sounds that the drummer was playing during the praise and worship; he always looked like he was having the time of his life! For most of the singing time I would keep my eyes on the drummer rather than anything else, plus I always used to divert my brothers’ attention as well so that they could have seen what I saw. Looking at their smiles I could tell they liked it as well.”

______ Magazine:

 When did you first start playing in front of a crowd?

Elijah:

“It was at church actually. My mum had taken over a church in 2000 and as a mother would, she really wanted her kids to support her and to be involved. So when the then-current drummer had to leave the church, my big break came. I had been watching drumming videos on YouTube places like that and I was closely analysing other drummers’ styles flows, so I believed that playing in my mums small church would help me to become a good drummer. Watching videos of the likes of Mark Graalman (Drummer of Sanctus Real), man he could play the drums like I’d never seen! So I decided to join the choir along with one my brothers who sings. Although I’m quite a shy guy myself, playing at that small church helped me gain my confidence because of the limited people that were attending at the time.

______ Magazine:

 Tell us about your Drummer of the Year experience!

Elijah:

“Okay, from the time I started until this moment I think it’s safe to say that I achieved the kind of target that I would only have dreamed of achieving; I won Drummer of the Year! My biggest achievement in my eyes is the fact that I’ve never had a personal teacher, the basics of my drumming came from watching videos, then the rest is all down to my imagination. And according to the DOY judges my unique imagination is what enabled me to become Drummer of the Year.

This is the interview that I started to write for my magazine. It is based upon a winner of a drumming competition. I started off well but the interview was more like a life story, so Dick to me to alter it to the perspective of more of a conversation.