Watch recent TV specials in India (Web page with links)

Bill Bruford and Steve Smith comment on Pete

Bill Bruford
You’re never going to meet anyone quite like Pete Lockett, with that kind of ability and energy. He’s a force of nature. He’s been taken to the bosom of some of the highest-calibre classical Indian percussionists, who want to share their art form with him.

Pete is persistent. He deserves all the success he has. His career has really rocketed since 1998, when he and I recorded [the One album by] the percussion quintet Network Of Sparks. I believe Pete and I are kindred spirits in that we both stem from the idea that modern pop rhythms in the West are rather dull with 2-4, up-down. Everything attached to that is cosmetic, but any way you skin it, it remains 2-4. Pete knows that life can be so much more interesting for us drummers in the West. Once you see the musical light from the point of view of someone like Pete, who has a very advanced sense of Indian rhythm, there are all kinds of interesting things you can bring to Western pop music.

Pete does big movie scores. When you see James Bond running through a Vietnamese marketplace, knocking all the vegetable stands over, you’re hearing Pete in the background. He knows the origin of the instruments and finds the music of other cultures much more interesting than ours. And I have to agree. If I tried to do anything at all in my drumming career, it was to try to bring other things into dull pop. Pete and I come at it from different angles, but we are both aware that there are some wonderful rhythms out there.

What I also love about Pete is that he is the ultimate world traveling, one-man percussion lesson/concert. In other words, for readers who don’t know of Pete’s talents, he can do a two-hour solo show, no problem, with lights, unbelievable electronics, and audio backdrops. He could easily do a two-hour lecture on Indian vocal rhythms and clapping. He could do a two-hour lecture on tabla. He can thrill anybody in any town square pretty much anywhere in the world with kanjira, which is a small instrument. He has the whole frame-drum thing down. He has the tabla thing down. He plays rock drums like crazy. He’s released books on rock drumming and now has released the amazing Indian Rhythms For Drumset educational package. He’s a really valuable character, doing really valuable work.

I think in twenty-five years’ time, kids will be learning Indian classical rhythms and learning to vocalize them and clap in the Indian tradition as much as they’ll be doing Western drum rhythms for their basic drum instruction. I think the world will be a whole lot better place as a result of that. And I think everybody will say, “Oh, I remember Pete Lockett started all this.”

 
Steve Smith
Since we met in 2003 Pete Lockett has become a friend, inspiration, teacher and collaborator. As one of a few musicians who is a virtuoso in both North Indian and South Indian percussion, his abilities on the tabla (from the North Indian Hindustani tradition) and kanjira and konnakol (from South Indian Carnatic music) are world-class. Significantly, Pete is not only acknowledged and appreciated by Westerners, but he has been accepted into the rarefied circle of maestros of both North and South Indian percussion, no easy feat!

I like the fact that Pete has taken his knowledge of Indian instruments, rhythms and techniques, along with his innate knowledge of Western music and has applied these skills into a unique “world-view” of percussion. This inclusive approach incorporates rhythms and percussion instruments from around the globe. Pete has the kind of high-level musicianship that is a universal language, crossing all boundaries of style or culture.
 
To me, that is what makes him a valuable contributor in a musical situation and outstanding as a solo artist. Pete and I have played duo concerts together, he is featured on my latest Vital Information recording Vitalization and Pete has performed live with my band, contributing a beautiful mix of colours, texture, groove and excitement. I look forward to more collaborations and lessons with Pete!