Beats, Rhythm, and Culture: Upper Thirds Dive into African Drumming

Writes Lorenzo L. (U3rds)

This week, all of the Upper Thirds had an amazing experience African Drumming, and learned a lot about the history and origin of where it came from. With one of the nicest instructors, Mohamed, from Senegal, we learnt three ways to hit the drum, and this allowed us to make some inspiring pieces of Malinke music as a group. He also taught us some singing, and we had our own little response to his calls that we combined with everything we learnt during the session.

We learned about how these instruments were once used to communicate across villages and are now central to celebrations across West Africa and are carved from a single piece of wood.

I found this a very cool experience, learning from a professional and having a great time playing. He also taught us the names of the different drums which added to the educational aspect of this workshop.