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 Today I received an email from my drum Master (Julian Raphael) asking me if I wanted to run a small beginners course on African rhythms and djembe drumming in our local arts centre Toi Poneke, Wellington City (New Zealand for those international types), to which I immediately and excitedly replied yes.
This prompted me to start this blog, so that I have somewhere to channel my enthusiasm for Djembe drumming and African Rhythm. Also I will be writing anything that I find useful to help people understand and learn about playing the Djembe, document the classes, thoughts and issues that come up for open discussion and provide a place for open discussion with regards to all things African percussion. For those of you who have not been to my Facebook page then feel free to go to http://www.facebook.com/APCCNZ and check out what is happening in the Wellington area with regards to African Percussion. I look forward to your comments and discussion :) Love Simon |
The AuthorMy name is Simon Elwell and I have been playing/teaching djembe for over 10 years. I am enthusiastic intermediate Djembe player who loves sharing anything I know about this subject. Archives
June 2019
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