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What
to bring and how to prepare
Some
teachers have loaner drums, and some do not. Ask
them before you show up. Regge at themac1@hawaiiantel.net
makes djembe drums in case you need one. It costs about
$400. Dunduns (stick drums) need to be bought in a
store, they are typically cheaper than djembes.
Conga drums need to be bought in a store and are
very easy to buy used, because latin music, afro-cuban
music all use them. Real Congolese drums, ngomas,
are expensive and hard to come by.
For
dance classes, just come dressed in a comfortable
shirt and wrap, if you are female, or shorts/pants
for men. Some dancers like to wear leotards with a
hip wrap. Keep it all covered and decent. African
dance is not about mooning or sunshining anyone.
Remember, this is danced in a village, in front of
everyone.
And
most importantly, bring the right attitude - of
community, respect and celebrating life.
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What
to expect
For
a more formal history of African music, read the djembe
article.
For
informal personal experiences of someone who did
this for the last several years, and eventually
with Native teachers, read below.
While
African dancing and drumming looks very
"shake my okole" - pardon my French - to
the Westerners, just like hula does, it is not
about that. It is a lot more Sacred and very
traditional activity, it is about community
building and participation, and helping the
community in living daily life.
Africans
(used to - with 21st century, these traditional
habits can die unless we keep them) drum and dance
for every occasion. For example, while working in
the fields, someone drums a certain rhythm which
is played specifically for working in the fields.
There is a specific rhythm for every occasion -
harvest, baby naming, leaving house to get
married, fishing, having troubles, going to war,
etc.
So,
African musical experience is not about some drum
circle where anything goes. It is a very
structured, traditional, communal experience, with
exact rhythms for exact occasions, and everyone
following the exact protocol.
While
some modern people can drum and dance to show off
- and yes, you might get a lot of attention from
immature people if you shake your okole with an
attitude - and some others think that it is about
learning about how to shake one's okole, that is
not it.
African
dance will put you in touch with your body in
a healthy way - if you look at the dances, arms
and okoles and toes and head and legs and all body
parts all have equal significance, and the
emphasis is not on any one of them. The whole body
moves in unity and all parts are equal. Africans
understand that one needs toes as much as okole in
order to live daily life. All body parts are
equally honorable and useful. There is no
shame or "specialness" that Westerners
feel about the pelvis, coming from the Christian
track record of feeling guilty about the body and
never actually being in the body. The whole
Western world is all about being in the head and
thinking only. Feelings are dangerous and body is
shameful. Thus, Westerners typically do not exist
below the neck and their pelvises are very stiff.
Well, relax and enjoy, African stuff has no such
ideas! It has a lot of respect for the totality of
everything and that makes it so healing.
The
whole West African experience is about CONNECTING
WITH EARTH, WITH ONESELF, WITH THE COMMUNITY, AND
WITH SPRIT. It is a highly meditative experience
that forces one to really relax and pay attention
at the same time. In short, meditation in motion.
This Sacred attitude or Respect and Yes! Effort is what is necessary to
really get the benefit out of African drum and
dance. It puts you in touch with your body, your
feelings, and something Higher. The mind and the
body get connected. This allows
for something Higher to come in. As it is
performed as a communal event, it also brings the community together, and
keeps energy
positive, high, and channeled productively.
Overall,
it is extremely healing. At this point, I
experience several facets that allow this healing
effect.
First,
the music is very "funky," it is unusual
and catches you by surprise, so it requires a
certain kind of Effort and full Engagement to
follow it. It requires relaxing yet paying
attention, it requires enjoying and letting
oneself fly with the music and Thinking at the
same time, it requires Awareness, and thus it
calms the mind and evokes Higher, and produces a
certain meditative effect. It also builds up
concentration. It is the "yes!" kind of
effort that is very healing.
Second,
it is aerobic exercise and stretching at the same
time, both drumming and dancing. It brings one
into shape very quickly. The dance or drum
sessions last a long time (1.5-2hrs) and require
physical stamina and consistent effort. But it is
so fun that you won't notice how much you are
sweating and losing breath :)
This
concentration and physical stamina at the same is
critical. Especially drummers must stay
consistently engaged, they literally cannot lose a
beat although they do not even have time to take a
sip of water, they have to play non-stop and
correctly. Any inconsistencies in drum music are
heard and felt, as the dancers cannot dance
anymore. The music is the "fuel" for the
dance - and vice versa. Dancers might slip and do
some off steps here and there, nobody will notice
in a large group, although if at least some
dancers don't dance correctly and all dancers
don't exude the feeling of "yes!" kind
of effort, the drumers won't be motivated to play.
Dancers do have the "official" few
seconds to catch the breath while waiting for the
dancing lines to start again. This is needed as
the dance is highly aerobic.
Third,
there are no emotions, no dramas, no
"stories," no games, in West African
music. You know how certain traditions can create
dramas, for example belly dance is often danced in
a dramatic way, the goal is to keep the audience titillated
and piqued and to show off. (I don't think that
was the original intent of belly dance but it has
become that - an ego loaded performance - in many
cases. ) Eastern European music and dances often
have a sad feeling to it, or some kind of tough
standing back. West African has no games about it.
It is plain Earthly connection and the only
feeling is the feeling of sheer exuberance and
joy, being rooted in the Earth and celebrating
Life. In some ways, perhaps modern gospel dancing
in church comes the closest to this feeling. One
just dances for the sheer enjoyment and gratitude
for being alive and celebrating All That Is. There
is no shame and no pulling back. The whole body
moves and is experienced and felt, and Something
Higher moves through as we say "yes!".
Fourth,
West African is a participative and collaborative
activity. It is not something to be watched from
the side while sitting down, like in a Western
concert :) It is meant to be experienced
first-hand. To be experienced, it requires Working
with others in a communal effort. The dancers
dance in lines that move together, so each dancer
has to pay attention to other dancers. There is a
collaboration between dancers and drummers, as
dancers move exactly on the drum beat. The
drummers have to keep the beat "up" in
order to produce the tenacity that drives the
dancers. In other words, the beat has to be
exactly on time and driven non-stop with effort
and tenacity in order to produce the feeling of
exuberance that motivates the dancers to keep on
moving and giving their best. This exuberance
keeps the drummers engaged. The music is kept
"tight" with effort and it just
"blows up", keeps on opening up, into
something that feels like flying on a magic
carpet. The drummers play together, as each
drummer plays a different pattern and all patterns
have to precisely match.
So,
overall, the whole West African experience is a
very organic, ecological thing, with many pieces
that intricately fit in a collaborative and
participative way. There is no pulling back, there
is only giving one's best. It is a lesson in
Survival as well as Spirituality, a miniature
lesson in how the Universe works. It is a taste of
Oneness.
Drum
and dance teachers do not say this. It is way more
than most audience wants to hear. I am saying it
:) as a healer. I have seen that people who
are drawn to West African drum and dance because
of this healing aspect and who do not fully
understand the Sacredness of it can get really
sidetracked. Drum and dance is a Doorway into
Spirit. Any activity is a Doorway into Spirit,
when performed with Intent. West African drum and
dance has this Intent built in as a basic
ingredient of the activity. It was designed as a
Doorway. Yes, it can be practiced "just for
fun", definitely, but then it is not
"it".
Playing
and dancing African music is extremely healing
because it engages higher parts of the brain, and
joins mind and body. It heals grief and makes us
relax into God.
I
personally got to experience this to the fullest
with Native teachers. They have Something that
non-Native teachers often do not. Perhaps it is
mastery, perhaps it is a finer understanding,
perhaps a lifestyle and attitude that is more in
touch with Reality and God, including no
addictions, active prayer, a higher state of
consciousness, a better teaching technique with
more giving to the students and more
demonstration, more conscious knowledge about the
communal aspects, more unconscious habit of living
in a community and being accommodating to the
community, more investment into student
learning in order to pass the culture - who knows.
Whatever it is, is very healing and makes me learn
very very quickly. For example, just about 4-6
classes with Moustaffa Bangoura made me drum
properly, and my dance improved too. Just a few
classes with Moussa Bangoura made me drum much
more easily and quickly, and even venture into
dance solos (because I can hear the drums better
and thus can move more accurately). What
is the Native teaching strategy in case of
drumming? The teacher presents the rhythm, piece
by piece. Then we follow and he/she plays with us
(so that we can hear what it sounds like). We keep
on playing many many times over, adding more and
more pieces, until we can play the entire thing
(the call, the break, the accompaniments). Then we
play the entire thing but keep on changing the
accompaniment (there are usually 2 or 3) . Then we
split the class and one group plays one
accompaniment, another group the next one, etc.
and then we keep on switching accompaniments
amongst the groups. Then we play solos at the end.
The dance strategy is similar, except that
it pertains to dance moves.
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