Last spring, it became obvious that the fading (at least as far as the field of music instruments is concerned) Musikmesse fair would have a competitor in the Musicpark. The first edition of the latter event took place between the 1st and the 3rd of November this year at the fairgrounds in Leipzig, Germany.
It is heartwarming that brands such as Yamaha, Sonor, Pearl, Meinl, Zildjian, Sabian, Istanbul Agop, or Schlagwerk not only decided to invest their time and money in supporting the new platform, but also brought in some of their artists, who gave great performances. Those included the likes of Jost Nickel, Gary Wallis (Tom Jones, Mike & The Mechanics), Karl Brazil, Michael Schack, Max Gösswein i Simon Gattringer (the Dreschheads duo), Dirk Brand, or Cherisse Osei (Brian Ferry, Simple Minds).
The Canadians from Dream Cymbals were a very interesting exhibitor. The company manufactures a wide selection of cymbals for all genres of music. Take a look at what Andy Morris, the owner and founder of the company, has t say about his products…
“Hello everybody! My name is Andy Morris. I’m the owner and founder of Dream Cymbals and Gongs. We’re a Canadian company and we’re very happy to be here in Germany at Musicpark Leipzig. I’m gonna walk you through our products, tell you a little bit about what we do and why our cymbals are so amazing.
First of all, everything in Dream Cymbals is hands hammered, hand made cymbals from B20 alloy. They create a great sound spectrum, they’re warm, rich. They have a dynamic range that allows you to play live in acoustic settings without having to hold back, and still make a great sound.
Over here, we’ve got a Crop Circle. This product is made from a recycled cymbal. We take a broken cymbal from any other brand, we give the customer some money for it – 1 Euro per inch. Then, we take it in and we make a new product. This one is probably another competitor’s cymbal that broke at one point. In that way, we’re helping the environment a little and also create an excellent-priced product. I think it retails about 50 dollars in the USA, so about 50 euros.
Over here, we have our Bliss 14” hi hats. They’re silky, warm, easy to play. They respond even at a very low volume, which makes it easier to be a drummer. You don’t have to hit hard before they start making a good sound.
Here, we’ve got our beautiful Contact series. A little bit brighter than the Bliss, which are very warm. We have some stacks over here. You can put them in different directions – up and down. They come in 14” and 10” as well. Here’s some more Bliss cymbals. See how rich and easy that is to play. Over on the far side, we have the Bliss 24” Small Bell Flat. Super dry with a tiny bell, which gives it enough wash. It feels like you’re not playing a tin can. Over here is the Dark Matter series. This is also a small bell flat ride. Very complex. You get a bit of gritty dirt to the sound.
It’s the Energy series. They’re a bit heavier and they also have an unlathed bell. A bit of nice, gong bell sound. The hats have a meaty, sharp, full-bodied sound. That’s a 13”, Energy hat. It’s crisp, clean, moves very fast, it’s great for funk and rock and roll. Also, the Dark Matter in hats. There’s a very interesting process, where we double temper the cymbal so we make a cymbal like that and we put it back in the fire, re-heat it up. Then, it has to age and be re-hammered. You get a much more complex sound. I can demonstrate that for you here. This is a 16” Energy crash. This is the same cymbal that has that process done to it so it looked like that and then we turned it this by re-hammering it. It tightens it and makes it a little more dirty. Holds it in. A little more complex and more edge. You know, aggressive. We also make Chinese cymbals and gongs of all kinds as well as orchestral cymbals but mostly it’s about rock and roll and jazz and playing great music.”
