Off topic, but I love drumming,
gregor
PS Where is the video? I understand that some one has copyrighted it and ONLY viewers in Italy can watch it. I thought that the Olympics were for WORLD UNITY. PLEASE POST THE DRUMMERS, MUCH METTA, gregor

2,008 drummers beat countdown to opening

Bill Savadove
August 09,2008

These percussionists were among some 15,000 performers who took part in a dazzling show at Bird's Nest, which highlighted China's ancient history and its rise as a modern power. Photo: AFP

When Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics, it fielded 2,000 musicians for the opening ceremony. Beijing on Fridayupped the ante by eight, and that was before the official ceremony started.

A total of 2,008 musicians created a field of drums on the floor of the National Stadium last night, beating out a thunderous countdown to the exact moment for the start of the Games, accompanied by a roar of approval from the crowd.

Dancers and actors, pulling humorous faces, do their bit to add a touch of levity to the opening ceremony proceedings.

The musicians used identical, table-sized Chinese drums called fou - a clay vessel with a skin stretched over the top. But the drums had a modern twist: they lit up in the dark, and percussionists used red luminous sticks to play.

At the Athens Games in 2004, two drummers - one in the Olympic stadium and the other projected on a screen from ancient Olympia - launched the opening ceremony.

The sheer number of drummers reflected the penchant of director Zhang Yimou for mass performances, seen throughout the opening ceremony. It also recalled a scene in the 1984 movie Yellow Earth, for which Zhang served as cinematographer, of drummers performing in unison on a dusty plain.

Traditional instruments made appearances throughout the opening bash. A musician plucked a stringed instrument called a guqin, a type of zither, at the beginning of the artistic programme.

For the "Rite of Music" segment, musicians displayed pipa, pear-shaped stringed instruments that resemble lutes.

Pianist Lang Lang, 26, whom The New York Times has described as the "hottest artist on the classical music planet", ushered in the modern age for the cultural performance.

Born in China, the musician and performs on concert stages worldwide.