African Drumming

Last Thursday, I got to play drums for the Shen Wei Dance Company! Shen Wei was doing a three-week residency here to work on a piece with his dance group. My drumming group, the West African Drumming Ensemble, was asked to play for their classes! The West African Drumming Ensemble only consists of the teacher, Biboti Ouikahilo, my friend Cameron and me. Let's talk about that for a while. Two of the ensemble members are abroad this semester, but since the group's start, in Spring 2007, there have only been maybe 4 consistent members. It is a pity and Biboti is getting discouraged. But it is because the faculty in charge of the Ensemble have not made us an official extra-curricular group with the school.

One of the major things I've begun to learn from being at school is that if I want something done, I have to do it myself. I think so many of us tend to push off responsibilty to people with authority or people who are nice. It's taken me a couple years, and a power outage on one of the coldest days of the year, to realize that I need to stop pushing responsibility on other people. I need to stop expecting people to take care of things, especially when it's not in their direct interest. I don't know who exactly is supposed to authorize our West African Drumming Ensemble, but I know I can try to get it done myself. Hahaha, I'm an adult now! I don't have to wait for the grown-ups to take care of things.

And African Drumming is fantastic! If you're at all interested in music, this is the coolest thing to do. Biboti has tons of stories from growing up in the Ivory Coast and he loves to answer questions. He loves teaching, dancing, and playing drums. We don't use music in the traditional Western sense, we remember rhythms with our hands and bodies, and eventually we can match them to their names and automatically play them whenever Biboti plays the introduction on his Dundun drum. We play djembes, shakers, and other kinds of drums the names of which I have no idea how to spell. Sometimes he brings in his xylophone, too. And we perform a couple times each year, in full African costume.

But playing for Shen Wei's dance class was something completely different. Shen Wei counts! haha, Biboti, Prof. Bill Cole and I were there to play, and we don't count. Biboti didn't know exactly what to do, but we found one rhythm that we could play quiet enough (the room was not designed for loud african drumming!) and we could change the tempo to match the dancers' combinations. It was mostly just fascinating to watch the dancers. They get to move however they please, but also follow the very specific motions Shen Wei is teaching them. It was intimidating to be the music for the choreographer of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies! We didn't play much, and Bill Cole had to leave early with his didgeridoo, but it was an awesome moment of culture for me, and I hope the Drumming Ensemble gets asked to do more things like that in the future!