It’s the 1980s and a young man walks the streets of London. The familiar clamour of New Wave and Post-Punk spills out into the night. But it’s not the muffled sound of thrashing guitars or screaming punters that catches the young punk’s ear: a curious rhythm lures him through an unfamiliar door. This is the moment of inspiration which will ultimately transform punk rock drummer Pete Lockett into one of the world’s most respected and awarded percussionists.
Before him sit legendary Indian musicians Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain – master of the Tabla.
“When you see Tabla for the first time, a good player, it’s the most amazing thing. I had no concept of what he was doing, but that made an impact on me” describes Pete. “Later I saw Tabla lessons advertised in the local adult education magazine, and I was down there like a shot. Of course, the actual transformation took somewhat longer, many years of dedicated study”.
Tabla is a traditional Indian percussive instrument featured in Hindustani classical music and devotion music. The instrument is made up of two different sized drums and is played with the fingers and palms to create a variety of different sounds and pitches.
Listen to Pete play Tabla on , Esraj By The Ganges, a piece he composed for Audio Network.
“Indian rhythm is most certainly the holy grail of rhythm study for any musician. Besides this the amazing and intricate finger techniques of Tabla really lay a solid foundation to tackle any percussion instrument”.
The techniques Pete learnt playing the Tabla laid the foundations of a successful career as a multi-instrumentalist and composer. He has collaborated with a long list of artists including Björk, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Jeff Beck, Amy Winehouse, Sinead O’Connor & many more.
His composition skills and understanding of traditional percussion techniques are sought after by filmmakers worldwide. Pete arranged and recorded all the ethnic percussion for the last five 007 ‘Bond’ films along with credits on many other Hollywood blockbusters and is a regular composer for Audio Network.
Pete shares with Audio Network a respect and commitment to authenticity when composing for film. Music can evoke time, place and emotion even before a scene is revealed and best way to achieve a sense of authenticity through sound is to use real musicians and real instruments.
Audio Network has over 45,000 tracks of high quality production music, and with over 270 leading composers Audio Network has music for every genre, style and mood. Every track that Audio Network produces is with the filmmaker and end user in mind – providing the simplest, easiest and most efficient way of delivering a great choice of high-quality music to the people who need it. Audio Network regularly record original orchestral tracks with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, enabling all producers, regardless of their budget, to use the richest and highest quality recordings in their productions.
To learn more about Pete Lockett, head to www.petelockett.com
Find real music for your story at www.audionetwork.com.au. For more information contact Audio
Network Australia on +612 9212 7660 or email info@audionetwork.com.au
