It was great to meet up with Tepairu Manea again to learn more about the art of Tahitian drumming. Also very honoured to join him for the Coconut Festival at Kapa’a – met some more great players. Here are some of the instruments we were using during the event.
Jerry Chapman from the Stó:Lō Nation playing a Northwest Coast box drum
The amazing story of Caleb Byerly and how a dream kick started an adventure of making an unusual instrument that had been lost by a tribe in the Philippines.
Another instrument that intrigued me whilst in Wales was the crwth, one of Wales’ oldest instruments. It is a form of stringed lyre which is played with a bow and which has a range of just one octave. Cass Meurig is one of the leading exponents of this wonderful instrument. Read More
Rebekah and I have just come back from spending 8 days traveling around the south of Wales exploring some of the ancient Celtic sites. During this time we also discovered more of the rich history of music and song. The unique triple harp originated in Italy in the 16th Century yet became so popular in Wales that it is now known as the Welsh harp.
After 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
Fascinating documentary about the peoples of Oaxaca, central Mexico and how there whistling language is being documented so it won’t be lost.
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.
The drum in Coast Salish culture is the heartbeat of our strong nation. In the wintertime you can hear the drumbeats of our people going all winter long. I believe when our Coast Salish singers and drummers get together in many numbers we become a powerful presence of voices together singing as one.
Whilst in the Czech Republic, Libor introduced me to a music store that has an amazing Orchestrion – a machine that emulates an orchestra with piano and percussion using a pinned cylinder. Each music roll contains a certain number of songs – like a modern day juke box!
Check our Pat Metheny’s modern day Orchestrion Project.
