An 8-year-old Japanese girl is taking the internet by storm after nailing one of the toughest drum parts in the Led Zeppelin catalog.
She even won praise from rock god Robert Plant.
The video posted on YouTube shows Yoyoka Soma furiously ― and accurately ― playing the late John Bonham’s drum part in “Good Times Bad Times,” the first song on the band’s eponymous debut album. She submitted the clip to the Hit Like A Girl drum contest, where she wrote in her entry that Bonham was one of her favorite drummers.
“My dream is to be the best drummer in the world,” Yoyoka wrote in the description of a Vimeo clip.
Yoyoka began playing drums at 2, performing publicly at 4 and now has more than 100 gigs under her belt, NPR reported. She was also a part of her family’s band, Kaneaiyoyoka.
The video was posted online earlier this year, but went viral last month which caused Plant to take notice.
“How fantastic,” he said on the CBC Radio program “Q.” “And the thing is, it’s like falling off a log for her.”
In a clip posted online by the network, Plant was all smiles as he watched Yoyoka play.
“That’s a technically really difficult thing to do,” Plant said. “I think he’d [John Bonham] be amazed. I think he’d be so chuffed. It’s great.”
Bonham was widely considered one of the greatest drummers in rock history. Rolling Stone ranked him number one. When Ultimate Classic Rock ranked Zeppelin drum parts, it put “Good Times Bad Times” in the number two spot, calling it “more evidence of Bonham’s superhuman status”:
“The first track on Zeppelin’s first album is famous for Bonham’s use of two 16th-note triplets in the beat, which was inspired by Carmine Appice’s drumming in Vanilla Fudge. What Bonham didn’t know was that Appice was using a double kick drum, so he found a way to train his right foot to do it on its own.”
Yuki Ogawa, also of Japan, won the Hit Like A Girl contest in the under 18 category, for this performance of “Unebi Mizuyama” by the band Tenchi Garaku.
(h/t Nerdist)
