First of all I would like to thank our considerate customs officers on how much care they took with my drum coming from Australia. I love the idea of having to re varnish any and all of my drums that I get sent, so luckily for me they took all of the bubble wrap off the drum and rings that were along side it in transit. Well done and thank you once again!! (FFS)

Thankfully all this damage was just superficial and was advised by Simon Fraser of African Drumming Australia that a light sand and another coat of Danish oil would bring it back to its former glory. And it did.
As I was having to re oil, I decided that I should take a few mm off the top of the playing edge and the place where the bottom rings go, as the rings I received were not going to accomodate the steer hide and 5mm rope I had purchased.

After looking closer at the edge, I also decided to remove some un evenness from the playing edge. This is supposed to make for a more even sound and maybe less ringing. Finally after all the rasping and sanding I got it to where I wanted.

So I Decided on 34 Loops/knots for this one and so I took my required number of Knots into the Djembe Rope Calculator that I use, which is in Michi Henning's book Djembe Construction: A Comprehensive Guide. This gave me the calculations as displayed below. Which by the way is where those little dots of nail varnish come in. They are the measurement for the knots.
The green item that I used to keep little space on the knots is just a 6mm steel rod, covered in electrical tape. With extra tape at the top to stop it from falling through. The best thing about this is that I can make it whatever thickness I want with the tape. This gives me the ability to make tight knots without giving up space for the verticals rope.

More helpful on the top ring was this print out from https://www.blocklayer.com/circle-dividereng.aspx as I just needed a guide to help me get things looking even, and as a result found this website. Again, this was a tip from Michi Hennings book. I also had to make room for my wrap and rope on the area where the bottom ring sits on the drum.

So with the rings sorted, It was time to get the Steer hide on the drum. I soaked it for around 8 hours, but prior to that I used a 40 sheet hole punch to get holes in the disk for running a rope through.

​Placing the hide on the flesh rings pretty straight forward. I wanted the crown ring quite high so I tightened the tightening rope as tight as I could. I went round by hand a few times before using my pulling stick and clamping the rope as I went, for my final pull before shaving the head and completing the wrap over. I actually nicked the skin with the razor somehow, but very superficial on steer hide I think. 

​I actually didn’t intend to have a wrap over on this drum, but once the hide was on it was just the right length for a small top ring covering and so I thought I would give it a try.

After 2 or three days of drying the sides near a heater, I took off the rope to give some air movement to underneath the wrap over.

So so here it is, after a week and half of drying and a final dry pull. I am going slow on the tuning on this one. Using diamonds to tune to an accompanying drum pitch, but depending on how it tunes and gives over the next few weeks, I might try soloist. We’ll see.

We have guest tutor from the Netherlands coming in to teach. Rene Vickers. He is spending 3 weeks in Wellington and wanted to teach a class. I couldn’t resist letting someone else take over and seeing their style of teaching, methods and what they bring to the party. See you Tuesday! (Drumming for Dancing as usual afterwards with myself leading )

René Rikkers

• Lives in Zwolle, the Netherlands
• Educated in music school for drums and percussion 1975-1984
• Djembé-teacher / leader of percussion workshops from the Netherlands since 1999 for adults, kids, in groups and also as a private teacher.
• Teached djembé / doundoun-courses in places like:
• Zwolle, Kampen, Dieren, Meppel, Dalfsen, Dronten, Putten, Velp, Epe.
• Has given djembé-workshops in cities like:
• Amsterdam, Utrecht, Apeldoorn, Groningen, Arnhem, Enschede.
• Has given Djembé-courses in Avignon (France).
• Educated in West-African music by courses and masterclasses in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France (Europe) and Burkina Faso (West-Africa).
• Has given performances in a great variety of groups and as a solo-artists for Dutch and regional television, festivals, opening ceremonies and parties from 6 to 60 people in ages 5 -70. 
• Percussion player for courses African Dance in the Netherlands and in France 2000 - 2010.
• Plays in a group for performances with Martin Bernhard and Marlon Read 2016 - 2017.
• Followed multiple workshops and masterclasses in the period 1998-2017 for example by:

Mamady Keïta
Seny Touré
M'bembe Bangoura
Mothis Enyanga
Mangé Camara
Pape Seck
Mamour Seck
Adama Dramé
Ayovi Koukoussé
Babara Bangoura
Mansa Camio
Sega Sidibé
Mamadou Delmundo Keïta
Baba Touré
Ibro Konate

This weekend has been one of my most long awaited events of the year so far. I think it was 6 years ago that Mohamed Bangoura was last in Wellington and although he has visited New Zealand several times since then, his main focus had been Auckland and surrounding areas. So this time round, thanks to Jimi Dale of www.drumtalk.co.nz, we managed to secure a days workshop from this Master Djembe player. To be taught by Mohamed was indeed a privilege and an awe inspiring event. The morning brought Dazling us with his dexterity, solos, knowledge and speed on the drum. Whilst in the afternoon Mohamed did not disappoint with an intense dance workshop that got everyones bodies grooving and minds working and heart pumping.

Thank you Mohamed for your generosity of time, patience, visiting Wellington and indeed bringing the fire!!

To View pictures from the day go here: Gallery Pages

Contemplating a band/group name was something I have been doing for a while but really never thought it would be something I would do. I actually never envisioned a drumming group for performances, as I am quite happy teaching rhythms to students through Community Music Junction and performing with Nimba (a Wellington African drumming group).

African Beats NZ has always been about teaching and spreading the love of African rhythm which would be accessible to all performance and education groups to post in, interact with and be part of a community either via Facebook or contacting me directly. I never really felt happy using African Beats NZ as a band/group name as I do not want African Beats NZ to be seen as being bias towards any particular group or people.

About a month ago I was asked to to get a wee group of like minded drummers together to perform for Africa Day here in Wellington. We are due to perform along side the Moringa Dancers and Robert Fugah on Saturday the 24th May 2014 and unfortunately the organisers of the event got a little confused between African Beats NZ and Nimba and were just about to print the programmes for the event with the incorrect group name. So I thought I might as well put a little more effort into a group name for this performance.

"OK, Time to be different", I thought. We really need to be known as something new and not African Beats NZ. Known as something meaningful and that represents who and what we are all about. I made a concious effort to not have African in the group name as none of us are in fact African, but a name that can be recognised as African in origin. Robert Fugah initially came up with the word NKABOM - (Togetherness in English), This was back in October 2013 and although I didn't really resonate with that as a group name, the name Togetherness stayed with me and has recently evolved into Unity.

Why Unity? Well Wellington is a small place for African drummers and often we will call upon each other to be part of a performance group, so an initial reason for liking togetherness is that I wanted to have the group name be something that indicates a oneness in the drumming community. I can pretty much say that we come from all walks of life, but when we play together as a group, we become one. Unified. An organic ensemble of rhythm that is totally unique individually and yet unified in its focus. Unity is what I feel African drumming is all about. We are not one person hitting out all the different parts of a rhythm on his/her drum kit. We are individuals bringing our individuality together to create a unique rhythm and sound.

Above all else, the rhythms brings people together, in dance, in singing, in community and in Spirit. That's why we do it.

And so Kubatana* (Unity/Togetherness) was born. Maybe this is the start of a few more drum/dance gigs? let's see, but whatever happens, we just love drumming together.

Simon

*Thanks to Chris Berry for the translation from English to Shona.

Loving the beginning of this term. What a great energy we have in the class and with the continuation of the African Dance Classes, Thursday's evenings are the highlights of my working week.

This term I am trying to bring in some of the new rhythms that I have learnt from King Marong and off The Rhythm Reference Project files that I downloaded last year. These new rhythms have consisted of Sonsornet, Calipso and Sinte.

I am loving how quick everyone is picking up the parts and breaks. I cannot wait unto next week :)

What an amazing turn out Jenny had for her African Dance class this evening. Right from the start Jenny had everyone moving and shaking and after a gentle warm up, the main choreography began. You know, I do not think I have ever seen so many smiles in one room at the same time as I saw tonight. Everyone got straight into the rhythm and before long everyone was rocking out to the beat of Macru. Drumming for this class was absolutely amazing for me and everyone else rose to the challenge. Susanna, Jaime, Carin and Rachael are amazing drummers. I feel privileged to have them bring their energy and enthusiasm to the class. They Rock! Thanks Jenny. Great fun and I cannot wait until next time :)

A pretty amazing day was had by all yesterday as we took to the Marimba's and hammered our way through all of the different parts of Chris's composition, creating the centre piece for the evenings performance. Chris's course brought people from all walks of life together with his healing ways and music. Bringing a little ancient African rhythm and culture to Wellington Via Jimmy Dale of Auckland, this has so far been the highlight of the year for me. If only I could afford to go on the retreat being held next weekend in Auckland. If any this blogs readers do wish to go then you can find details of this life changing retreat at the bottom of the page at  http://www.drumtalk.co.nz

The evening's gathering and performance went really well. Bringing a taste of the weekend to people who couldn't make the weekends teachings. The music and song brought on an uplifting and vibrant mood and for myself, it was just an amazing thing to be involved with.

Julian Raphael of the Community Music Junction, who hosted this event for wellington, has recently acquired some of Chris and Jimmy's favorite instrument, the Mbira and will be running an Mbira club here in Wellington. Chris uses the Mbira to bring a melodic and gentle sound which accompanies most of what Chris teaches. It is such an hypnotic and uplifting  instrument to hear, and may be on my wish list for Christmas :)

Thank you to everyone for a great weekend xxx