Viola Smith -- one of the world's first female professional drummers -- was known as "America's fastest girl drummer!" This performance took place in 1939 with the Coquettes, an all-female orchestra; the featured number is called "Snake Charmer." Smith died in 2020 at 107 years old and continued drumming even as a centenarian. Smith's love of music began at a young age. Her parents ran a dance hall in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin and she and her nine siblings all played instruments. By the age of 12

In celebration of Asian Heritage Month in Canada, a group of pan-Asian women and non-binary drummers called Raging Asian Women (RAW) are making themselves heard through the traditional performance of Japanese Taiko drumming. The origins of RAW lay in “trying to fight against stereotypes of Asian women as submissive or quiet or powerless,” said Jody Chan, one of the drummers of the group. Also see: https://globalnews.ca/news/8793341/chinatown-history-toronto-vancouver-montreal-canada/ | Global Ne