I started Lîla Drums Productions in 2004 It started off with me
and my band, my drum group We wanted
to have a place where we can drum, rehearse
be creative and be crazy When he started that
I was really proud Because it was
a step in the direction of his dream We first started
in Peninsula Plaza that was actually
a small shop unit It was a shop
less like a school We always had
problems with neighbors because we are very
noisy obviously You can imagine There are limited people
that we can hold in the class And because it was
in a shopping mall We can't do anything
in the day time We could
only practice at night In a way we can't really
expand the revenue coming in We have to be considerate
to the neighbors Think of the location,
worry about the rental And worry about do we have
enough students this week? I think we were like
young and dangerous So really driven by the fact
that we want to play music We just think of what we can do
to deal with it, and overcome it I tool a little gamble We moved to a much bigger place
two years after we started We moved to this
basement space at Adelphi Which was originally a pub It was a basement so that
we had to renovate the all place Everything
was done by ourselves The guys who did the most work
were Kelvin and Helman Adelphi was fantastic
but very expensive We had to move because
we couldn't sustain it anymore We had to move out
we've been chased out In fact we moved a couple of times Just so we could find
a stable place to run our classes There was a period of time
where we almost gave up There wasn't another place for us
to move towards to There was a period of time
where Fanka Fellas We had to go to jamming
studio to rehearse Each time we had to bring
our drums there and back again I remember Kelvin saying Maybe I have to end Lila Drums Because we have nowhere
else to go already During this period of time
where we almost gave up that's when Kallang CC
came along When we finally moved
to Kallang CC This is really where
I feel like home Things started
to get better Fanka Fellas can
get back to rehearsing again I can start to focus more
on building the community And also the content
that I'm teaching It's a really
dynamic relationship now It's been
much better than ever Now, the place
is sort of run or belongs
to the students, the community No matter where
you come from No matter what
your drumming skills are The fact that
you are in this club You belong to this club
and you make a difference We are all
striving very hard To keep this going We did a concert last year We are trying to do
a few nice gigs this year The concert that
we played last year It was just amazing For the first time, I was
performing in front of a real audience With a group of people
who are really cool and playing great music It makes you strive
to learn and grow as a person I think that ultimately
that's the core that brings you back It's always learning, learning I love everything about
the learning factor in Lila Drums We appoint some of our
students to teach It's fantastic now that
we manage to have mentors who are all open and willing
to share and teach in classes In the process of learning,
in the process of teaching In the process of working towards
for performance and events People learn about
being together How they can connect
with each other Mutual respect,
valuable friendship The beauty of djembe is that
you are doing it with people It's a collective
form of expression When we drum we don't speak
it's not language that binds us together It's something
primitive from inside That kind of connection
it's just pure joy Playing is a way of expressing A way of
releasing an energy It's a very pure and raw
expression from inside you It's about something
that is more than just playing music
