A star-studded cast of of the world’s top drummers (Kimberly Thompson, Mona Tavakoli, many more) and drum industry executives the world will appear — and the winners of the 5th annual Hit Like A Girl Contest will be announced — during the Hit Like A Girl Contest awards show. The event will be webcast live exclusively on drumchannel.com on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 4:00 PM Pacific time.
Top Female Drum Stars to Perform
Along with crowning the 2016 Champions and Runners-Up in the under and over 18 divisions of the international drumming competition, the event will feature performances by Mona Tavakoli (Jason Mraz), Riesha Fayson (2014 HLAG Champ) and Melanie diLorenzo (Billy Gibbons) as well as Kimberly Thompson (right, Beyoncé/Late Night with Seth Meyers) premiering a track from the Kimberly Thompson Quartet’s upcoming CD release. The show is being hosted by drummers Mona Tavakoli and Jordan West and will also include appearances by Sarah Hagan (Zildjian), Louise King (Rhythm Magazine), Lindsay Artkop (2015 HLAG Champion), Kalonica Nicx (2015 Champion) and Val Sepulveda (2013 Champion).
Forty Eight Finalists Winnowed Down To The Champs
The show is the culmination of the 2016 Hit Like A Girl Contest. Hundreds of girls and women from nearly 50 countries participated in this year’s competition. Following six weeks on online entry, 48 finalists were chosen by judges, sponsors and public voting. These finalists’ videos were then reviewed by top professional drummers, including 2016 Hit Like A Girl co-spokespersons Hannah Welton and Anika Nilles along withKimberly Thompson, Emily Dolan-Davies, Emmanuelle Caplette, Jess Bowen, Karin Gandhi, Yissy Garcia, Terri Lyne Carrington, Senri Kawaguchi, Nia Lovelis, Allison Miller, Didi Negron, Venzella Joy, Alicia Warrington, Gina Schock, Mona Tavakoli, Cherisse Osei, Samantha Maloney, Val Sepulveda and special guest judges Steve Smith, Aaron Spears and Chad Smith. (Please visit www.hitlikeagirlcontest.com/contest/judges for additional information.)
The Hit Like A Girl contest was started in 2012 by Phil Hood (DRUM!), David Levine (TRX) and Mindy Abovitz (Tom Tom) with the goal of showcasing female drummers and encouraging more girls and women to play drums. This year, former editor of Rhythm magazine, Louise King, became a fourth member of the production team. The contest is sponsored by an elite group of musical instrument companies, including Evans, Pro-Mark, Zildjian, Mapex, Sabian, Vic Firth, NFUZD, Sonor, Drum Channel, School of Rock, Musicians Institute, TRX Cymbals, Vater, Innovative Percussion, Dark Horse Percussion, and SJC. Media sponsors across three continents include Music Radar, DRUM!, Alfred, Alternative Press, Rhythm, Percussive Arts Society, Enter Music Network, Digital Drummer (Australia), Drum Guru, Hudson Music, Not So Modern Drummer, Drummers Resource, Drummer Café, Performance Drumming, Online Drummer, The Black Page, Digital Drummer, Wikidrummers, Swinghouse Studios, and Sick Drummer Magazine. (Please visit www.hitlikeagirlcontest.com/contest/prizes for additional information.)
Log on to www.drumchannel.com on April 13 at 4 (PT) and don’t miss this exciting event that is a high point of the year for female drummers and the drumming community at large.