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Drums

Buffy MacNeil – Somebody Pray

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Honoured to be part of Canadian singer Buffy MacNeil’s recording project – Voices of the Silenced of Residential Schools. This video “Somebody Pray” is part of the project that began to unfold in January 2021 when Buffy MacNeil envisioned the ways she could support the health and well-being of Indigenous youth. She hopes to release an album which will support the creation of a youth care and advocacy centre in the community of the Paq’tnkek Mi’kmaw Nation.

Umoja

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It’s about time I hear you say! Well here it is my first solo percussion piece – Enjoy!

Umoja is a Swahili word that means unity, togetherness, union, oneness and harmony.

I was originally asked to put a rhythm track together for an event called ‘Percussion for Peace’, an online gathering of percussionist’s from around the world. After the event I continued to explore this idea realising that peace often comes about through a journey into unity. I wanted to somehow tell a story through rhythm of what ‘Umoja’ might look like. The initial track had been recorded so quickly, I decided to add more sounds and continue delving into this theme of ‘Umoja’. I wanted to explore the potential of each nation’s sound working together, creating beauty and strength.

The musical themes I have created start with a bell – symbolising a call to gather – for those of faith, a call to worship. It is rung 8 times, the number for new beginnings. I have used percussive sounds that imitate our natural surroundings, the wind, rain, birds and animals (the art of percussion may have started through people copying the world around us) – a hint that everything has a part to play in this hope of oneness. At first the rhythms are abstract and seemingly random but soon they start finding their place and they create a new diverse expression based on the rhythm of Seven, the number of continents and for some, a perfect number. As each new sound joins the rhythm, the song builds in strength, suggesting that there is power in togetherness and it finishes with all sounds finding a single rhythmic pattern, a sense of powerful agreement to walk in unity into the unknown.

Virtual Drum Jam

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Drummer John Hendrickson from Kansas City took a drum idea I had captured on video and played his own wonderful part to the original groove. During this season of ‘being home’ it is exciting to see the incredible creative ideas that the internet allows us.

Walking Buffalo Singers

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Incredible drumming and singing at the 60th Annual Eastern Shoshone Indian Days Powwow on the Wind River Reservation in Fort Washakie, Wyoming, from the Walking Buffalo Singers from Big River Saskatchewan, Canada. A new generation of young singers – most related to the original group who recorded three albums.

Native Drums

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A wonderful few days with Jerry Chapman from the Stó:Lō Nation. He is a very creative builder of Native drums. We met many years ago when I was asking an event organiser if there were any Native drums that I could use and Jerry was passing by at the time and remarked “I have a van full of drums.” We have been friends ever since.  Seeing the drum set-ups I have used with drums from around the world on a rack, inspired him to use deer antlers for hardware and experiment with different sizes and shapes for Native drums.

Tabwrdd drum

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IMG_0933After an evening of listening to storytelling and songs from Ray Hughes in a church in Milford Haven I got to play a tabwrrd, a traditional Welsh drum. That day I had been doing some research about this instrument and found out that there was only one drum maker in the whole of Wales who still made this traditional drum. So you can imagine my joy in turning up to a church who had a drum made by this same company. Two days later I met the makers and I am now excited to tell you that they are now in the process of making me a drum. Read More

Water drumming

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I love how rhythm starts with what you have around you. In some places it’s as simple as water! The Baka woman from Cameroon, Gabon and Congo use the sounds of water to accompany their songs – as do the woman of Vanuatu, a volcanic archipelago in the south Pacific.