Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra founded drum festival to ‘scare away’ Sars. 20 years on, it returns to ‘drum up the spirit’ of the city post-Covid
- Founded in 2003 to expel bad energy during the Sars epidemic, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s Drum Festival returns bigger than ever for its 20th anniversary
- Citywide drum lessons and competitions will lead up to the festival’s finale, at West Kowloon Art Park, where a carnival and live performances will take place
Drums are among the world’s oldest musical instruments, and can be played to dictate the rhythm of a piece of music. In traditional Chinese folklore, they are also thought to “scare away bad things”, says Celina Chin Man-wah, executive director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (HKCO).
That is why, two decades ago, the troupe founded the Hong Kong Drum Festival – to give the city new energy after it suffered an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).
“We kept thinking, ‘What can the orchestra do to contribute to society and to drum up the spirit of Hong Kong?’,” Chin says, recalling the heavy toll the Sars epidemic took on Hong Kong in 2003. “We decided that the drum was the best Chinese instrument [to do so].”
This July, 20 years on, the popular programme returns for its biggest edition yet.
