Weekend with Mamady

This weekend, I was honored to participate in an African Drumming workshop with internationally renown djembe master, Mamady Keita. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djembe and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamady_Ke%C3%AFta ) I was introduced to a variety of old Mandingue rhythms. The Mandingue tribe historically lived (and continues to live) in the western area of Africa, in a region now encompassed by five different countries.

In addition to drumming, my classmates and I received lessons in chants and African history, thus taking my experience beyond musical into cultural. I acquired an appreciation for the concept that Djembe is an instrument used by villagers to accompany the singing, clapping and dancing of life-cycle festivals.

Something about experiencing a notion kinesthetically gives an unparalleled richness to ideas such as the celebration of women bringing lunch to men working in the field. In retrospect I consider how much I stand to learn from a village that creates such intense joy from what I might ordinarily consider the merely mundane.