Over the past few days, thanks to Mamady and Famoudou, we have all learned some 'Malinke'. Here are the words we know till date:
Ile - You here
N'de - Me
Isoma - Good morning (to one person - singular)
Aisoma - Good morning (plural)
Ineura - Good evening
Inike - Thank you
Ainike - Thank you all (plural)
Iwuli - You stand up
Wuli - Stand up
Yan - Here
Na Yan - Come here
Tanate - How are you?
Tanacite - I'm fine/good/well.
'Nininka Lilate Filica' - 'He who asks questions will not make mistakes.'
And so we made sure that we posed intermittent questions throughout Friday's session.
Before class started all the djembefola's and djembefollette's were practising their tones and slaps on their respective djembes. The gentlemen sitting to my left looked over at James Kwan (from TTM Hong Kong) who was very calmly playing his djembe in the otherwise, noisy room and asked him, "How do you play so softly and still get your tones and slaps to sound so clear?" James smiled and said in one word, "You relax." It is not a necessity to whack the djembe hard all the time to play a tone or a slap. There is a difference in the physical playing technique for sure but beyond that it is a question of really internalizing the sound of 'Ping', 'Pang' and 'Boom' as one plays the djembe. Each djembe player will eventually find his or her own special way of playing it. It might differ from another players technique minutely or greatly. The most important thing is to be very clear in the mind as to which sound to get at what particular time, sit comfortably while playing (with the back straight and shoulders relaxed) and to smile and breathe while playing. That makes all the difference.
We started off by completing the previous sessions rhythm 'Bara'. We played the second accompaniment and here's what that sounded like with the Dunun section:
Bara with Dununs
The next rhythm we played is called 'Sumalo.' This rhythm is one of Mamady's creations and is based on a mythical story from West-Africa. The rhythm is named after a king by the name of 'Sumalo' and the story is one of a patriotic mother. Sumalo's kingdom was a famous and prosperous one. And like the fate of most famous and prosperous kingdoms will have it, they were confronted by a strong enemy. This story talks about a warrior, his wife and son. During the war this gallant warrior was killed. The soldiers returned to the dead warriors home with his battle armour and his sword. These articles were presented to his wife who showed it to her son. The boy was young and not ready for battle but he wanted to avenge the death of his father and his mother saw reason in this. She took him to the war camp of Sumalo. The boy was identified as too young to fight but his heart was big. He was taken into battle and after some struggles, he too suffered the same fate as his father and died in battle. Once again the son's material remains were brought back to the mother. The mother reacted in a way that she wanted to go to battle and avenge her husband's and son's death and win the war. She went and presented herself to Kind Sumalo and fell at his feet as he approached her. The king picked her up. The mother said, "I will fight." The kind replied calmly, "I know your energy, your spirit and your philosophy. I admire it. Your thoughts are patriotic. but you do not have the strength to go and fight. Go home and pray for us so that we can go and win this battle for our Kingdom." The mother cried all the way back to her home but she prayed for her King, the brave soldiers and for their safe return. Sumalo's kingdom emerged victorious. The king himself went to report this news to the mother and to thank her for her prayers because of which they won the war.
This rhythm was created in 1964 and is a tribute to the bravery in women. Women would not take part in battle but had a lot of wisdom and courage and advised kings on strategy of battle.
The words of the songs are:
Sumalo Sumalo (Name of King)
Sofalu Barawuli (The warriors are ready)
Ila Kola Yan (For you here)
This is how we were taught the words of the song: Sumalo Song
This took me back to my memories of a quaint little village school close to Amby Valley called Shaktiyogashram. I had gone there to conduct a drum circle for the inhabitants of the Ashram and also children from a neighbouring rural school. As I reached I caught the end of an English class where the kids were repeating 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.' The teacher would speak one word and the students would repeat the word until they perfected it. This brought a smile to my face as we did the same here to get the pronunciations of the words perfectly.
Here's what the song sounds like with the djembe and dunun parts: Sumalo Djembe and Dununs
There was a really nice buzz in the air after class. I really enjoyed this song. There was a certain something about this rhythm and song that I really liked. The vocal harmony was absolutely beautiful to listen to.The men had one response part and the women had another. They fit beautifully together.
Here's a nice photo of Mamady Keita and Tara Tucker from Drum Up Big. I hope we can see them in India sometime very soon.
Ile - You here
N'de - Me
Isoma - Good morning (to one person - singular)
Aisoma - Good morning (plural)
Ineura - Good evening
Inike - Thank you
Ainike - Thank you all (plural)
Iwuli - You stand up
Wuli - Stand up
Yan - Here
Na Yan - Come here
Tanate - How are you?
Tanacite - I'm fine/good/well.
'Nininka Lilate Filica' - 'He who asks questions will not make mistakes.'
And so we made sure that we posed intermittent questions throughout Friday's session.
Before class started all the djembefola's and djembefollette's were practising their tones and slaps on their respective djembes. The gentlemen sitting to my left looked over at James Kwan (from TTM Hong Kong) who was very calmly playing his djembe in the otherwise, noisy room and asked him, "How do you play so softly and still get your tones and slaps to sound so clear?" James smiled and said in one word, "You relax." It is not a necessity to whack the djembe hard all the time to play a tone or a slap. There is a difference in the physical playing technique for sure but beyond that it is a question of really internalizing the sound of 'Ping', 'Pang' and 'Boom' as one plays the djembe. Each djembe player will eventually find his or her own special way of playing it. It might differ from another players technique minutely or greatly. The most important thing is to be very clear in the mind as to which sound to get at what particular time, sit comfortably while playing (with the back straight and shoulders relaxed) and to smile and breathe while playing. That makes all the difference.
We started off by completing the previous sessions rhythm 'Bara'. We played the second accompaniment and here's what that sounded like with the Dunun section:
Bara with Dununs
The next rhythm we played is called 'Sumalo.' This rhythm is one of Mamady's creations and is based on a mythical story from West-Africa. The rhythm is named after a king by the name of 'Sumalo' and the story is one of a patriotic mother. Sumalo's kingdom was a famous and prosperous one. And like the fate of most famous and prosperous kingdoms will have it, they were confronted by a strong enemy. This story talks about a warrior, his wife and son. During the war this gallant warrior was killed. The soldiers returned to the dead warriors home with his battle armour and his sword. These articles were presented to his wife who showed it to her son. The boy was young and not ready for battle but he wanted to avenge the death of his father and his mother saw reason in this. She took him to the war camp of Sumalo. The boy was identified as too young to fight but his heart was big. He was taken into battle and after some struggles, he too suffered the same fate as his father and died in battle. Once again the son's material remains were brought back to the mother. The mother reacted in a way that she wanted to go to battle and avenge her husband's and son's death and win the war. She went and presented herself to Kind Sumalo and fell at his feet as he approached her. The king picked her up. The mother said, "I will fight." The kind replied calmly, "I know your energy, your spirit and your philosophy. I admire it. Your thoughts are patriotic. but you do not have the strength to go and fight. Go home and pray for us so that we can go and win this battle for our Kingdom." The mother cried all the way back to her home but she prayed for her King, the brave soldiers and for their safe return. Sumalo's kingdom emerged victorious. The king himself went to report this news to the mother and to thank her for her prayers because of which they won the war.
This rhythm was created in 1964 and is a tribute to the bravery in women. Women would not take part in battle but had a lot of wisdom and courage and advised kings on strategy of battle.
The words of the songs are:
Sumalo Sumalo (Name of King)
Sofalu Barawuli (The warriors are ready)
Ila Kola Yan (For you here)
This is how we were taught the words of the song: Sumalo Song
This took me back to my memories of a quaint little village school close to Amby Valley called Shaktiyogashram. I had gone there to conduct a drum circle for the inhabitants of the Ashram and also children from a neighbouring rural school. As I reached I caught the end of an English class where the kids were repeating 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.' The teacher would speak one word and the students would repeat the word until they perfected it. This brought a smile to my face as we did the same here to get the pronunciations of the words perfectly.
Here's what the song sounds like with the djembe and dunun parts: Sumalo Djembe and Dununs
There was a really nice buzz in the air after class. I really enjoyed this song. There was a certain something about this rhythm and song that I really liked. The vocal harmony was absolutely beautiful to listen to.The men had one response part and the women had another. They fit beautifully together.
Here's a nice photo of Mamady Keita and Tara Tucker from Drum Up Big. I hope we can see them in India sometime very soon.
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| Mamady Keita and Tara Tucker |
We had to take our djembe's back from Kava gallery since it had to be cleared out for the dance classes that happen there on the weekends. Quite a busy and bustling venue, this. Was good to know that so much happened over there but I was dreading the potential walk back to the hotel with my new monster... ahem baby djembe!
Thankfully Vicki Morgan from San Diego Women's Drum Circle, San Diego (also the person who had her Djembe's up for hire for the duration of the workshop apart from djembe straps, rope pulling tools, shea butter, djembe hats and more for sale) dropped Daniel Karin (from Brazil) and me to our Hotel. She drove us through Balboa Park, a wonderful place to chill out and also took us to the World Beat Centre, a great venue to take drumming lessons of all kinds, to go check out some great gigs and all in all a very relaxed, laid back place to hang out.
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| Vicki Morgan taking us to the World Beat Centre - San Diego |
Daniel and me decided to grab some food. We went up to Horton Plaza and had some Mongolian food. The meal was delicious and as usual the portions of food served there were obscenely huge. I don't know Americans still eat three meals a day. Thereafter Daniel and me decided to get a taste of a Friday night out at Gaslamp, in the city. San Diego did not disappoint.
On Saturday my All-American Diner Experience wish was fulfilled by Kym Lohnas from San Diego. She took me to Balboa Park a huge park, full of walking/jogging trails, theme landscapes, museums and much more. A perfect way to spend a saturday evening. Thereafter we went to Brian's American Eatery where in true style I ordered the largest, greasiest special there was for that evening's dinner: BBQ Spare Ribs with tortilla soup, baked potato, beans and corn on the cob. All I can say is, "BURRP!" Come see what I mean:
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| Brian's American Eatery - Sigh! |
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| Oh Blimey! It was an 'All you can Eat' Menu! |
In San Diego, there's always something to do. With the beach, funky venues like these, music, museums, nature... Need I say more?
My evening was spent digesting San Diego in all its glory.
I'm looking forward to Monette's performance with her band tonight and also looking forward to meeting everybody from the workshop on an informal forum. Not drumming for two days has made me miss drumming and everybody from the workshop too much.
We're already halfway through this workshop. Time has flown by as usual. Tomorrow, we drum with Famoudou. Until soon people.
Come. Drum. Be One.
Taal Inc.
