The Dragon Ritual Drummers are a drumming troupe, consisting of members of the Niagara Pagan Men's circle. Since our beginning our troupe has experienced tremendous success and blessings. Our three self produced cds has met with incredible response throughout North America and Europe.

We have been honoured to be part of many charity events. We have participated in a range of fundraisers as well as multi billed shows with large audiences. We have been thankful to perform at many pagan gatherings and events. Our live shows create incredible energy and are the talk of the events we perform at.

The History of the DRD

The Beginning
The dragon ritual drummers began in 1999. As members of the Niagara pagan men's circle the drum was a main tool to help expand and explore our magik. With so much of our magiks surrounding the dragon energy of Niagara Falls we began to create rhythms that brought the history of him to life again. We originally set out to create a performance or drum opera telling the whole story. In that process a world of music opened up for us. In that time the members of the troupe participated in a ceremony of having the dragon's image tattooed on us, an all day event that had a guest who was at the time, the producer for the morning show for 97.7 southern Ontario's best rock. He thought we should come on and be part of the morning craziness; we did and it was a great success.

Sought After
Within no time at all we were being asked to perform at many different functions, and our performance troupe was born. In the year 2000 we recorded our first CD including some of the songs pertaining to the dragon mytho, but also included African and festival rhythms akin to circle drumming. We sold over 1000 of the CDs mostly to pagan people and occult shops. We no longer sell volume one; but it is a piece of history for us.

We supported the CD with numerous shows at pagan festivals and pagan gatherings to our pleasure for the next couple of years, building a wonderful base of dancers and trancers that make our interactive show what it is. In 2003 with some new members, and some old ones gone (we only choose our drummers from the men's circle, while we are a professional troupe some of our drummers learned to play solely for the purpose of the DRD and the magik that it brings), as people sometimes move away or cannot commit to another year of our journey, we set out to record our second CD. Although many loved our first one the second was another level of music. Recorded once again with the amazing Mike Atherton at Blue Summit Records we laid down 69 minutes of roots drumming from all around the world, creating our own homage to samba and djembe music as well as two rhythms that were generously given to us to expand upon by the New Orleans voodoo spiritual temple. Their master drummer the infamous Louis Martine and temple drummer Christopher Li shared with us Papa Legba and our now favorite anthem to the ancestor's bamboula, and of course another song from the opera, awakening the dragon. Our second CD was met with even larger success and a larger audience of listeners. We again hit the pagan festival and conference circuit as well as other venues, fundraisers and an annual stint at the dragon boat charity races.

Awakening of an Ancient Power
Our totem dragon spirit of Niagara Falls was now becoming known to many. Giving life and honour to an ancient, and in some texts vilified, deity has been an experiment and reward that we could have never anticipated. With regular ritual and offerings, meditation and exchange we have been able to feel and share the beauty of awakening an ancient power in the modern age. It has taught us the gifts and joy, as well as the hard work and commitment of working and serving a living serpent power that has been in the area for thousands of years. Known to the original inhabitants of the area, he was eventually secured in a not so glorious picture of the evil giant serpent slayed by the Iroquois nation, those who in history wiped out the Onguiaahra, or as the French explorers called them "the Neutral Indians". They in fact were also not the first inhabitants of the area, the serpent mound builders from the Ohio valley region came before the neutral nation and Clovis as well as pre Clovis people were here and their artifacts and tombs and some mounds have been found and excavated.

Uncharted Territory
We have enjoyed the success of our signature drum opera " The Epic" released in 2006. We recorded, with drums and percussion (no synthesizers or electronic samples) the entire history of the Niagara falls from its birth, the water dragons legacy and story and his supposed slaying by the Iroquois lightning and thunder god to his modern day awakening. It has won much acclaim and heard around the world on radio stations and podcasts. It has allowed us to travel to new places and meet new friends.

With in a year of our last offering, our new release, "Passage" featuring our hit single "Pagan Soldier", has us returning to our hard hitting drumming roots with rhythms from around the world.Again we find ourselves following the manifestation and power of our dragon spirit, we find ourselves experiencing incredible times of music, exchange, travel and drumming the praises of our totem. We continue to play for our pagan brothers and sisters as well as expanding into the world music and jazz genres.

Thank you to all who have supported us we hope to continue to give you good honest music from the heart and from the soul. And of course to our water dragon of antiquity, without you we would not exist.