Saturday 7th October - So this is what it is all about

I've gone off the weather theme for a couple of days - there's really not much to say, weather-wise, as we have been enjoying a couple of sunny, warm(ish) days recently.

Saturday was our Harvest Supper at church. It was a fund-raiser for the youth of the parish who are going out to South Africa in the Summer for a couple of weeks to work in a township, and "see how the other half lives".

Djembe from Mali
(wikipedia)

As well as the meal (my word, that was a good meal) - a variety of African dishes - there was "entertainment". This comprised face-painting, making huge tissue paper flowers to form the harvest decoration in the church, and African drumming, which is where I came in, using about a dozen djembes which someone had brought from their school.

After supper, some people gravitated to the church and we started. I was slightly at a loss: I TEACH djembe, and this was NOT a lesson! I showed people the way to play the drums, and demonstrated a couple of rhythms, and wondered where this was all going to go.

The drummers were a mixture of children, people who were used to playing instruments, and people who were NOT used to playing instruments. To my delight, the drumming settled into a real "groove" - everyone playing along, maybe using the rhythms that I had taught, maybe experimenting with their own ideas, maybe switching from one thing to another.

It was such a lovely, companiable, group, family, community, togetherness feeling. Like a ceildh, but less hectic. We were all watching each other, smiling, encouraging each other.

What's that word - "chillax"? Nah, that word is too hectic for what we were experiencing together. Just cool, man. Really cool. I could have kept going all night - just like they do in Africa.

Here's a "youtube" that I found of a djembe group in London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bh0Uk26BMQ

and here is a beautiful video of what it is all about; whoah, they work hard in Africa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVPLIuBy9CY&feature=related