The Gobbler: Drumming Root

Drumming Roots

by Juan Wilson

There was a time about forty years ago that drumming became important to me. It began when I was in my early teens and we lived in a new Levitt house on Long Island. Other than what was in the local stores (a recently built supermarket, pharmacy and newsstand) there wasn't anything to buy in Levittown... certainly nothing exotic or intriguing. My mother was so desparate she joined The Gift Of The Month Club. The Club was a scheme to mass merchandise bizarre items from exotic places to middle class Americans. Once signed up, every month we received a new Club item: An ivory letter opener from India, a blue and white Dutch tile from Holland; a brass figurine from Thailand. At least it was something unknown and surprising from far away.
: Once, just before Christmas, we received a big foreign crate. This was too big for the Gift Of The Month Club. As it turned out it was from Betty Douglas. Betty was a lifetime friend of my mother. She was smart and just as World War II was starting she had gone to MIT to study architecture, astronomy and physics. After she graduated from school she worked in Buffalo as an aerodynamicist for an airplane factory. After the War she married Keith Knudsen who took her to Rhodesia, Africa (now Zimbabwe). There they practiced architecture by day and listened to lions by night. That was where the crate was from, Rhodesia. It was a gift for me and my sister.; We opened the crate on Christmas morning. Inside were several packages. Two contained thumb pianos. Betty's note explained that they were called "ochisangi". They consisted of small decorated boards with several metal prongs of differing length supported securely by a wooden bridge. The board was held with two hands. It was played by snapping your thumbs on the prongs to make made different musical notes.
: There was still one big item in buried in the wooden shavings packed in the crate... a drum. The barrel of the drum was a single piece of blackened wood that had been hollowed by hand. The entire surface of the drum had been engraved with an intricate pattern of carved parallel lines, like Samoan war tattoos. The drum heads at either end were a gray green snakeskin: off a big snake. The snake skin was held to the drum with carved wooden pegs driven into holes in the barrel. This was definitely not an item you could buy in Levittown. My sister and I were delighted with this thing, but knew little about playing it properly. I was most impressed with the snakeskin. It impressed every guy I knew in the neighborhood as well. We'd bang on the thing for a while and then go on to something else.
: After a few months we left the drum alone. Some of the pegs had been driven into the drum and rattled around when the skin was played. By summer the drum was hung up and forgotten. Every year, my family spent the summer in Panama, New York at my mother's parents farm. When we returned to Levittown in August we found that the drum had gone through some changes. It hung on a wall in our living room and under it was a small pile of sawdust. Something was living inside the drum. In a moment of inspiration, my mother mailed the drum to Cornell University for an analysis. The source of the sawdust was created by a rare African termite that Cornell's entomologists were delighted to get their hands on. They returned the drum with instructions for getting rid of the termites. They involved getting a galvanized garbage can with a lid and some chemicals. With the right dose the drum would we unoccupied in about three months. My mother got the garbage can and set it up in the carport. By the next Christmas we had the drum back in the house hanging on the wall.

Album cover to "Olatunji! Drums of Passion"

Sometime shortly thereafter we heard what that drum was used for. We got a record called Drums of Passion by Babatunde Olatunji, a drummer from Nigeria. It was the first high fidelity long playing record widely distributed of native African music and caused a sensation. A WINS disk jockey in New York named Murray the K (Maurice Kaufman) was playing tracks of Olatunji sandwiched between top twenty hits like the Eternals "Babalu's Wedding Day" and the Cadets "Stranded in the Jungle". Murray claimed that Drums of Passion was submarine race watching music. This referred to kids parked in cars along the Long Island beaches "making out" as they pretended to watch subs racing offshore. He popularized the album and some African words like "Akiwowo" (chant to the trainman) and "Baba Jinde" (flirtation dance). In the following few years I spent many nights riding shotgun in friend Kip Bedell's 1960 Chevy banging out rhythm on the vinyl dashboard while we cruised for gas, burgers and girls.

Ashiko drum making workshop

Thirty five years later my wife, Linda, bought me a wonderful birthday present after I turned fifty. She enrolled me in a two day Ashiko drum making workshop held at the White Chapel in Mayville, New York that was conducted by Alex Wedmedyk of Earth Rhythm. The process was easier than it might be because Alex brings all the materials including the pre finished drum barrels. Most of the work consisted of preparing and then soaking the goat hide for the drumhead overnight and then the next day stringing the drum. Alex's technique of stringing the drum requires that you lay on your back with the drum between your legs in what might easily be confused with the birthing process.

Alex Wedmedyk tightening a drumhead

My interest in drumming was rekindled. The Ashiko I strung has a 10" head and stands a little under two feet high. It has a sweet deep tone for its size and is light enough to carry around and play all night. An especially inspiring workshop was conducted in 1996 at the Blue Heron Music Festival, in Sherman NY by Emile Latimer, of the group Xalat.

Emile Latimer in a drumming workshop at the Blue Heron Festival

Emile is from Buffalo and he demonstrated West African drumming techniques. That summer, my wife and I found many occasions and fire circles where people were interested in drumming. Late in the year I heard that Emile Latimer had arranged for a special performance at Neitche's on Allen Street in Buffalo. Emile was bringing Olatunji to Buffalo. I was not even aware that Olatunji was still alive, much less still performing in America. This was a show I had to see.
: Nietzsche's is a narrow but deep barroom and music hall. The entire surface of the place, walls and ceiling, is painted black. There is a stage at the back and a little balcony on either side of the stage. Nietzsche's often has local, alternative and interesting music. It's in a section of town that might be described as "The Greenwich Village" of Buffalo.
: Even though I didn't get along with my teenage stepson Kevin, I thought it would be a good idea for the two of us to share the experience of seeing Olatunji together. Kevin was about the age I had been when I first heard Drums of Passion, and he was interested in drumming. A call to Nietzsche's confirmed that they would allow Kevin to see the show if he was accompanied by a parent or guardian. Buffalo is about and hour and a half away, and 45 minutes into the trip we stopped for gas. As we were about to leave the station I was shifting gears on my 1984 VW Bus and the floor mounted gearshift broke off at the floor. I stopped the bus and turned off the ignition. Because it was dark Kevin was unaware of what just happened. As I told him I waved the gear shift still in my hand. I could see in his eyes that look indicating that this was going to be another thing for us that wasn't going to work out.
: It seemed that there was nothing to do but abandon the bus and the idea of seeing Olatunji. However, Kevin's disappointed look got me to work. The gear shift shaft was a hollow tube, and was probably was why damn thing broke off in my hand. I found a large screwdriver and a Vise grip wrench in the back of the bus. I jammed the screwdriver blade into the hole in the tube sticking out of the floor and opened the grip on the wrench. I clamped the Vise grip at the end of the screwdriver handle so I could reach it from a sitting position. But it was too difficult to drive and shift. We found that I could drive if Kevin shifted with two hands on our jerry rigged gear shaft. To our surprise we got to Buffalo on time and found parking a couple of steps from Nietzsche's door. That night turned out great. Olatunji shared the stage with Emile's group Xalat. Somehow a troop of dancing women, dressed in African dress, jammed onto that little stage with Xalat and Olatunji. As Kevin said at the time "That was awesome!" At Christmas time Linda and I went to Buffalo Drums to buy Kevin a drum.
: These days Linda and I take our Ashiko's to drumming circles whenever someone invites us. We also attend drumming sessions at "The Center for Spirituality" in nearby Jamestown. Alex occasionally holds a drum making workshop there, too. For me the drum has become a spiritual connection with other people and nature.; SOURCES; "Olatunji! Drums of Passion"; by Olatunji is still available from Columbia Records; "Earth Rhythm"; drums, drum making workshops and drum lessons; Alex Wedmedyk 3661 Magnolia OH 44212 (330) 273-6260; "Xalat"; West African Drumming; Emile Latimer, Buffalo NY (716) 885-0224; "The Center for Spirituality"; 514 Second Street, Jamestown NY, 14701 (716) 483-6877; Maggie Monroe-Castle, director; drum workshops Friday nights 7-9; Nietzsche's; Bar and showplace for alternative, local and interesting music; Allen Street, Buffalo NY (716) 886-9539; "Buffalo Drum"; Waldemeer Avenue, Cheektowaga NY (716) 897-0950

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