Cheap sticks

Wellington-based percussion group Strike is in Singapore to play as part of a New Zealand festival. Strike met at Victoria University, when they were mostly playing chamber music, and now are a group of eight looking to invent new instruments to thump. A recent concert used the “sonic power” of water, fire, earth and Bedford trucks. The band is trying to educate people about percussion by conducting workshops for students, both in New Zealand and around Asia. Strike believes the appeal of music is recession-proof, citing its recent performance at a festival in South Korea that it said attracted thousands of people a day despite the financial crisis. “Even more so in some ways — people turn toward music and arts in recessions. Music is essentially something everyone can do, and it’s free,” founding member and manager Murray Hickman said. “If you can afford a Playstation 3, you probably can still afford to get a pair of chopsticks and play on pots and pans at home.”