“Rhythm is everywhere… It’s all around us, you can feel it, even touch it sometimes. It is inside you, your heart, breathe, the way you walk: that’s rhythm.
Rhythm is everything”.

I am NikMartken, an Italian drummer and poli-percussionist who, as you can see above, is obsessed with rhythm and all rhythmic instruments. I like defining myself as a drummer more than a percussionist because the drums were my first love: I have been playing different styles since I was 16, from rock to metal, from blues to jazz, from folk to progressive.

My crazy passion for this instrument drove me to discover its ancient origins and to get closer to various world’s percussions from Africa, Latin America, the Desert, Folk and Celtic rhythms, Eastern European and, last but not least, Asian and Oriental music. The discoveries found a place called Headtrip Acoustic Project, an acoustic trio with guitars, percussions and didgeridoos.
Here I am mixing the different styles mentioned above. These vibes are all included in the stories that I usually tell between one song and the other and, I guess, thanks to the tales of Nature, Fantasy and Magical Elements accompanied by all my little percussive toys, people started to call me The Shaman (with huge respect for the real Shamans out there).

I discovered the didgeridoo after an amazing journey around Australia and, after many years chasing it, I finally got in my hands a truly addictive dream: the Handpan.

The Handpan, for me, is in a certain way the final evolution of all percussions I have been playing, where all those techniques meet creating unique harmonies and beats beautifully fused together, hard and soft, feelings and emotions… when the words can’t explain what’s going on, I let the instrument do it.

“Rhythm is everywhere, rhythm is everything”.