What has become a Canada Day tradition is out to beat a world record next week.
And do they mean beat.
On July 1, the sixth-annual Canada Day Drumming event seeks to top its Guinness World Record for “Most People Performing a Drum Roll Online Simultaneously” set last year with 581 drummers.
The event will highlight multicultural drumming performances with a featured live stream and people tuning in from across Canada and the world. The intention, according the national chair of the event Richard Wong, is to simply unite people.
“Drumming is such a universal language of music and we want to promote just that, universal living amongst people in Canada and around the world.”
Originating in 2017 by the Vancouver-based Legacy 150 Celebrations Society, Canada Day Drumming was created to strengthen community connections and strive for world peace through percussive arts, one of the most ancient and widely accepted art forms.
Last year, it transitioned to online and witnessed 174 cities connect; 148 were Canadian and the other 26 were international in 13 different countries.
Despite the name, people don’t need to use actual drums to participate. All that is required is equipment that can be used to drum, even if it was just something out of your kitchen. As Chong puts it, the point is to “celebrate people from all different ethnic backgrounds.”
The event is set to begin on July 1 at 10 a.m. and will continue until 11:15 a.m. It is free and will be held virtually on the official website as well as YouTube and Facebook Live.
RELATED: VIDEO: B.C. drummer plays all 175 Rush songs in 24-minute video
