Lulu dreams that one day she will be the lion drummer in the Chinese dragon parade . . . Young readers will love these mouthwatering, bite-sized stories from their favourite authors and illustrators.

Lion dancers are the new sensations in Asia, and none are as charming or handsome as US import Ricky Ang. But while the rest of the Leopop boys aspire to be the lion head, Ricky would rather goof around as the big head doll. Ironically, drummer girl Ong Ying Ying is the biggest cynic of this Leopop wave. “Don’t fall for a lion dancer,” her mother had always warned her. “He will break your heart.”

Like Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, singer, composer, and bandleader Thomas Mapfumo and his music came to represent his native country's anticolonial struggle and cultural identity. Mapfumo was born in 1945 in what was then the British colony of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The trajectory of his career—from early performances of rock 'n' roll tunes to later creating a new genre based on traditional Zimbabwean music, including the sacred mbira, and African and Western pop—is a metaphor for Zimbabwe's evolution from colony to independent nation. Lion Songs is an authoritative biography of Mapfumo that narrates the life and career of this creative, complex, and iconic figure. Banning Eyre ties the arc of Mapfumo's career to the history of Zimbabwe. The genre Mapfumo created in the 1970s called chimurenga, or "struggle" music, challenged the Rhodesian government—which banned his music and jailed him—and became important to Zimbabwe achieving independence in 1980. In the 1980s and 1990s Mapfumo's international profile grew along with his opposition to Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. Mugabe had been a hero of the revolution, but Mapfumo’s criticism of his regime led authorities and loyalists to turn on the singer with threats and intimidation. Beginning in 2000, Mapfumo and key band and family members left Zimbabwe. Many of them, including Mapfumo, now reside in Eugene, Oregon. A labor of love, Lion Songs is the product of a twenty-five-year friendship and professional relationship between Eyre and Mapfumo that demonstrates Mapfumo's musical and political importance to his nation, its freedom struggle, and its culture.

As a child John Kerrison was so obsessed with becoming a drummer that he made a snare drum from a biscuit tin and wallpaper. Tutored by the legendary Jim Marshall he turned professional at the age of thirteen. "I quit school at fifteen... The headmaster said choose academia or Rock & Roll... I chose Rock & Roll." John's drum kit survived being loaned to Keith Moon and he played on the same bill as The Rolling Stones. As a scooter riding Mod he experienced the swinging 1960s firsthand and contributed to the deafening arrival of Hard Rock, performing in bands alongside future Deep Purple legends Rod Evans, Nick Simper, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. In 1971 a traumatic spinal cord injury abruptly ended John's promising career as a drummer. Eventually he surfaced from the depths of despair and found an innovative way of regaining his ability to play a full drum kit.

Lion dance troupes from across Asia have gathered in Singapore to challenge the Lion Legends to the race of a lifetime. The stakes? The troupe’s future! As jealousy and betrayal swirl, Apple, the Legends’ youngest idol, finds that he must be the one to keep the brotherhood together. At the same time, he meets Charm, a fiery, monkey-like tomboy he can’t help but be drawn to…

Humorous commentary and essays on politics and culture.

(Book). The sixth installment in the Modern Drummer Legends series contains extensive and in-depth interviews, exclusive Erskine recordings, pictorials of Weather Report, Peter and Friends, the early years, Peter's analysis and insights on 40+ pages of drum transcriptions, and a great digital download component.