Saturday, April 12, 2008

Naked drums and the whirling dervish

The naked drum:

Regular readers (as if I actually had such an animal) might remember that several months ago, while tuning his cowskinned djembe, Sidy broke the bottom ring. Well, fast forward through a trip to Mali, a bunch of new drums and a busy schedule and it might not surprise you that the drum was, as of a week ago, still sitting in a corner of Sidy's apartment, forlornly waiting to be repaired.

Enter Nguyen, my husband. Or more precisely, his friend Dave, who graciously welded the ring, gratis. I facilitated this by stripping the ropes from the drum. So, yesterday, while attending my lesson, I spied the naked drum sitting in the kitchen. I asked Sidy if I could try to restring it, knowing full well that my handiwork might stink and need to be redone. But how much fun! The top ring still has it's loops... all 31 of them. So, this morning, my challenge was to try and fit 31 loops on the bottom ring without running out of rope. (Trying to use the original rope is proving QUITE difficult.) I'll keep you posted on my progress.

The Whirling Dervish:
Last night I went to Black Rep for Afro-Sonic to play with Sidy and Lisa. It was fantastic. There were several other drummers. I tuned my djembe down a bit so I would be able to play more softly in the crowd. It sounded good. Unfortunately, after the second set, I made the mistake of offering my drum to a guy from Ghana. He never gave it back! So, rather than interrupt him to get my drum back, I just stood in front of the players and danced like a madwoman for over an hour. Note to self: Do NOT wear clogs for dancing, you dingbat.

I got home at three am and was so wired I couldn't sleep.

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