Saturday, April 12, 2008

Banga Banga Bang Bang

I must respectfully disagree with an acquaintance's assessment that drumming should be slow and steady, 4/4 rhythm, meditative, trance inducing... you get the idea.

What about energizing? What about getting you out of your chair and dancing for hours because you can't possibly sit down while the sound waves are scrambling every molecule in your body. What about communicating the complexities of life in a rhythm with so many layers you can not possibly begin to tease them apart? What about ecstatic, crazy, bouncing in your seat, smashing your fingers to a pulp because you can't feel them anymore, energy?

No, drum circle friend. That might be true at circles. But that is not how drumming 'should' be all the time.

I tell you, all of Africa can't be wrong about this.

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