TF Archives

Medicine Drum added to Rainbow Serpent lineup

Author: Clea Woods
Monday, January 5, 2004
In addition to the stellar line up for this years Rainbow Serpent Festival comes Medicine Drum, aka Chris Deckker.

Chris Deckker grew up in Sydney, Australia where he honed his craft drumming in bands ranging from Latin to psychedelic funk. In 1992 he moved to Europe where he quickly became involved in the emerging electronic dance scene.

Before settling in Europe he travelled through Bali and Goa where he studied traditional Eastern rhythms. Goa has been a musician's haven since the 60's attracting the likes of music greats such as George Harrison and The Who. In the early 90's a new sound was born in Goa called psychedelic trance. With it's lush, hypnotic beats, Deckker found the inspiration he was looking for.

Deckker soon hooked up with electronic producer Andy Guthrie and Medicine Drum was born. They started producing music, releasing tracks on various compilations and singles with early versions of Alpha Return and Water among the first tracks.
At that time, Deckker founded "Return to the Source", a new club night in North London which grew in popularity to become one of London's premier dance parties. The aim was to bridge spirituality with dance culture. "Return to the Source" was the perfect club to launch the Medicine Drum live sound -

"I've always seen Medicine Drum as a live concept, with loads of drums on one side, very organic, and all of the technology and keyboards on the other, with ritual dance theatre." Chris and Andy continued with their live shows, with regular gigs in England, France and Switzerland and tours in Japan, America and parts of Europe. In 1996, DJ Chrisbo joined the tour, adding yet another dimension to the show. In 1999 Deckker moved to San Francisco after signing to Cyber Octave records/Virgin, and continued to expand the Medicine Drum sound.

In October 1997, another of Deckker's visions became a reality. Earthdance, a "whole-world dance party" took place in 22 locations and 18 countries around the world. In November of 1997, he was granted the rare privilege of an audience with the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India.
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