I was very excited a few weeks back when I was asked by Sean Nunan (Almost Famous) if I had any articles to contribute to the bi-monthly South African Drums & Percussion magazine – hell! Of course I did! Having all the contact that we do with South Africa’s hottest artists I immediately jumped on the opportunity and thought of one of the newest and most exciting drummers, Kesivan Naidoo!

Drumming isn’t the usually focused on as much as say the sexy lead guitar, or the keyboard in the background, while percussion can be the conglomeration of sounds produced from any old tin can and block of wood. Which is exactly why SA Drums & Percussion mag is such a cool concept – and before I get shot down for being rude to percussionists – it is in my mind one of the most vital audio necessities to any group because that’s where the atmosphere is created!

Kesivan is a difficult man to find sitting in one place for any amount of time (unless of course he’s behind his drums – but there’s just no conversation then!) and so I had to catch him in-between tour and performance dates while still trying to meet editing deadlines. And I was very chuffed when I was recently given a couple of copies the September October issue of the mag, and saw that Kesivan and I had made a 2 page spread!

I described Kesivan one of the hottest young drummers on the South African Jazz scene with him playing his part of groups like the world music project Babu, the acoustic jazz quintet Restless Natives and the electro Closet Snare. Kesivan started playing with his first group at the age of 14, even touring with various groups before eventually studying Jazz Performance and Composition (BMus Hon) at UCT.

I am going to be meeting up with Kesivan towards the end of the month again as he is very excited about talking to me about another project that he has been working on – the revival of the Armchair Theatre in Observatory, but that’s only after he’s returned from his second tour in a month. And, once I am back from Mayotte, where we are taking a host of South African artists to appear at a music festival.

Kesivan is full of energy, and one hell of a drummer, but find yourself a copy of SA Drums & Percussion (it’s free!) to read more about him and other featured artists such as Pete Lockett (Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Amy Whinehouse, etc), Michael Rorke (Knave) and a whole lot of interesting information about drumming and equipment.