JOIN USFor art buffs heading to Taiwan, there couldn’t be any better place to visit than the Ten Drum Ciatou Creative Park, a drum-themed art hamlet.
Snuggled in Tainan district and around a 20-minute drive away from the port city of Kaohsiung in South Taiwan, the park has been set up at the site of the historical Rende sugar refinery. Its endeavour is to promote traditional drum arts, groom future drummers, pass on the percussion tradition and boost the local culture of Taiwan.
When the sugar refinery was ravaged by fire, the beams of the roof, made of Taiwan cypress, and the dilapidated site, were revived by the process of natural weathering by the Ten Drum Creative group. The cultured environment is so invigorating that one can gorge on local dishes, watch the drum show, practise drum arts or pick up the creative art of drum-making.
One can drop in at the Chin Shi Lin Drum Handicraft Workshop, the first-of-a-kind musical instrument store that is determined to popularise the drum instruments of Taiwan. The outlet aims to create a wide range of eco-friendly drums. The store kicked off in 2011, displaying large and small warrior drum sets, special traditional drums, lion drums, frame drums and impressive drum stands.
The drums are crafted from the skin of Taiwanese buffalo. The skin is softened by soaking it in water. It is then placed on circular wooden frames, stretched beyond margins and mounted on a frame that is made of compressed wood fibre. The skin cut-out for large drums is subjected to continuous foot-stamping to render it soft. These are then dried at room temperature by natural process. It takes at least a fortnight for the skin to dry up.
These drums are not only resistant to insects, their storage is also easy because they are not affected by climate and moisture.
Shoppers will be spoilt for choice at the outlet. There are colourful, decorative drums of various sizes with floral paintings mounted on wooden stands. There are even small ornamental drums that can be used as keychains.
The smaller drums bearing symbols are priced at NT $100 (Rs 200 approx.). The bigger drums mounted on attractive drum stands cost around NT $1,300 onwards.
Apart from these, there are Chinese good luck charms in the form of painted fish that come for NT $50 (Rs 103). Good mementos indeed.