As a young boy growing up in Sri Lanka, Ray and his friends would invade cricket matches armed with a motley collection of instruments. Plastic buckets, dust bin lids, wooden boxes and bits of metal were used to play rhythms, turning the match into a riotous celebration.
Years later his father’s station wagon proved popular for carting friends’ band gear around – they allowed him to join the band.
He never imagined he could be a professional musician, but after finishing his studies, rather than become an engineer, he started playing with some of Australia’s top musicians and decided to learn more about drumming. His studies took him all over the world, including to New York and to Ghana in West Africa where he studied traditional rhythms. He returned to Australia, continued performing and also started a drumming school, all the while continuing his music studies in Africa, Cuba, and in his original home, Sri Lanka. The writing on this blog is fictional but loosely based on his experiences over the years.
Ray still travels, and plays with a number of different groups. You can read more about his real life, including his bands and his African drumming school at http://www.raypereira.com
