Red Bull Tum Tum Pa! Hard to beat
TWO Wednesdays ago, TEENage was invited to the first-ever staging of the Red Bull Tum Tum Pa finals, at the Mico University College Gym.
The afternoon was filled with excitement, as finalists from the University of the West Indies (UWI), University of Technology (UTech), Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) and Mico University College (Mico), all came out with a bang to vie for the main prize,representing Jamaica at the world finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Red Bull International created this competition for students attending universities and colleges across the globe to participate in freestyle drumming. This calls for participants to be musically creative, making instruments with pens, pencils, rulers, scissors and erasers to create unique rhythms to be judged.
Finalists were selected from the aforementioned campuses in the Corporate Area, with each being represented by at least four competing teams. Sixteen teams in total were selected, nine of whom showed up for the final showdown.
The finale included two rounds. In round one, contestants had to cover or play a well-known hit for 60 seconds, and in round two contestants had to show their creativity for one minute by playing from any genre in freestyle format, with no limits whatsoever.
After the rules were laid out by hosts Phyllia and New Yorker Ice, it was time to get things started.
Round One was quite entertaining, but teasing. Among the favourites in this round were Shottas from Mico, who covered Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss rhythm, and did it well. They had everyone moving and to the beat. Sharing in this testament was Ground Zero and Almshouse out of EMCVPA; as well as Mad Thing from Mico. All three teams raised the bar for an already great competition, and were crowd pleasers in their own right.
The group Prodigy, also from Mico, was short on meeting up to their audience’s expectations, and so lost the great vibe from the already hype patrons. A2Rrrrr also disappointed and lost five points for including voice in their piece. Other teams who brought little excitement and creativity to the table in this round were Inni and Ozone from UTech and Arty from Mico.
The ending of round one came with entertainment from guest Dominique, who sang and played the guitar. She did a great job in healing the excitement with her smooth sound and great musical ability.
Round two proceeded, and what a round this was.
TEENage heard many surprising turns in the Tum Tum Pa final round. The participants were raw, creative and original.
Out of this round birthed crowd favourites, such as Prodigy, Ground Zero and Mad Thing. Ozone, and Aces Crew, however, failed to meet up to the audiences’ expectations, while other contestants gave okay performances.
After two rounds of mostly great performances, it was time to name the winners.
Second runner-up went to Mad Thing, first runner-up went to Almshouse, and the title went to Ground Zero. “Preparing for this competition was a difficult task. At times we felt like we were not going to make it, but we made it and we are happy for the outcome,” Cavin Karty, Ground Zero’s team representative told TEENage minutes after winning.
Ground Zero will be representing Jamaica at the Red Bull Tum Tum Pa world finals in Rio de Janeiro. All participants and winners went home with prizes from Red Bull.
