In western culture, think of drumming and a John Bonham, Dave Grohl or even Buddy Rich may come to mind. But imagine a culture where entertainment isn’t the purpose, where drums hold deeper symbolic and historical meaning. Envision a continent where drums are a language of life, with distinct rhythms that denote the journey from beginning to end — births, coming of age, marriage, the naming of a baby, a full moon, a harvest. The drums of Africa tell community stories, call people together, connect. That is the message of Jembe Den.
The percussion ensemble is led by Bob Damm, professor of music and director of Music Education Partnerships at Mississippi State. But it is several of his private students who make up this group focused on traditional rhythms of West Africa. Each rhythm has a name and function. One might have been played for farmers as they worked in the fields, another would welcome village women returning from a fishing trip.
“We’re not just playing empty rhythms that have no cultural meaning,” said Damm. “We know what these rhythms mean.”
Jembe Den formed as more and more of Damm’s students wanted to know about African drumming, especially how to play the jembe, or djembe (pronounced JEM-bay). The goblet-shaped drum is traditionally carved from a single piece of African hardwood and topped with animal skin, most commonly goatskin. It’s a drum Damm immersed himself in while researching instruments of West Africa, first in 2004 in Ghana and later while living in Mali for three months on sabbatical in 2011. That country’s economy was suffering, weighed down by terrorism, kidnappings and other adverse forces. But though the people were economically poor, Damm found the culture rich.
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Damm’s teacher in Mali, Bassidi Kone, mentored him in the jembe.
Played with the hands, the drum is capable of a variety of sounds, depending on where the player strikes the drumhead. The instrument was first created, it is said, by village blacksmiths long before Europeans discovered Africa and started dividing it up into countries.
“According to my cultural guide in Africa,” Damm said, “there was an old mortar that had been pounded through, that didn’t work anymore, so a blacksmith decided to make a drum out of it by putting goatskin over it. He made something new and played it and liked it — new sounds that had not been heard before.”
Damm took lessons with Kone and accompanied his group as they performed for dignitaries and for the president; they also traveled to villages.
“Their music was very sophisticated and complicated,” said Damm.
African rhythms are more syncopated, emphasizing notes that are off the beat, he elaborated. They are layered, creating a dense, woven texture. It’s a far cry from the formal drum training Damm grew up with.
“It wasn’t about expressing feelings; it was about technical proficiency and playing accurately what was on the page and following the director closely,” he said.
Then, in high school, Damm encountered Ghanaian musician and composer Oscar Sulley Braimah at a percussion camp in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
“Oscar taught us the African way of playing, which was through oral tradition, through an integration of drumming and singing, and through improvisation and call-and-response. We learned a different way of making music and a different intention in making music. The purpose was not to play accurately what was on the page, but to celebrate.”
What Damm began to learn in high school, he embraced and strives to pass on to all his students.
“(Oscar) told us that the drum in Africa is a sacred instrument — that the tree had a spirit and the animal that gave the skin had a spirit, and that the drum itself has a spiritual power to bring people together.”
That concept was mirrored again decades later in Mali by Damm’s teacher, Bassidi Kone.
“Basadi told me about how he believes the drum protects him and that the spirit of his teacher is residing in the drum,” explained Damm. “I can understand that because every time I play my drum I’m reminded of my teacher and my experiences. My teacher is there with me.”
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For the player, drumming can be transcendent. Artist and potter Bonnie Renfroe of Starkville described it as her way of “staying healthy.” Her introduction to drums came without fanfare in 2007, when she accepted an invitation from Damm for mothers to stay during a music class her daughters were in. Today, not only is she a member of Jembe Den (alongside a daughter), she also makes clay drums. She plays every day. She hosts drum circles at her home. For Renfroe, drumming is an essential part of rebuilding body, mind and spirit in the wake of serious health issues.
“As soon as I started, I saw how it was benefiting me in every way, including muscle development. … They say ‘be one with your drum,’ and I’m doing that. It opens your mind. It opens your heart. Whatever is going wrong with me in my life — physical, mental, to keep balance — I give it to the drum,” Renfroe said. “To know you’re playing in a group and everyone has the same intention — it’s enlightening. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Alex Swan, 15, has taken lessons from Damm for the past five or six years and been a member of Jembe Den for about three years. African drumming is a different outlet than being behind a typical drum set.
“When everyone is playing together, it’s kinda really ‘in the moment.’ It’s not like any other type of music that I do,” said the Starkville Academy 10th-grader. “One thing I really enjoy is that you get to the point where you can play without thinking about it — you can kind of be absorbed in everything around you.”
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Guest artist Wsir Johnson will join Damm, Renfroe, Swan and the other members of Jembe Den when they perform at the Columbus Arts Council’s Rosenzweig Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8. The native Californian and former Mississippi resident returned to the state in 2017; he lives in Okolona and has family in South Africa. The musician, painter and filmmaker plays multiple African instruments and makes many of his own. He’s also a storyteller, in the griot tradition. Griot are the historians, praise singers, poets and musicians who preserve oral history in parts of West Africa.
“The tradition of African storytelling is thousands of years old, and in most (old) cultures, if you don’t have writing, what are you going to do? You have a story through dance and song. That’s the premise of African drum — it’s storytelling, even if I don’t say nothing. The essence of African drumming is based on what it means.”
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The beginning of a new year is traditionally a busy time for Jembe Den. They are frequently invited into Golden Triangle schools during and around Black History Month, and present community programs. They will also lead off Mississippi State’s International Fiesta in early April. For the ensemble, it’s all part of the drum’s power to draw people together.
How does that make the teacher feel?
“Joyful, that’s how I feel,” said Damm. “I feel connected to other people, and I feel celebration and sharing and community. … I hope others will enjoy our music, be uplifted and share our joy in what we’re doing.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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