Drums that Talk April 9-10

Story posted March 28, 2005

In West Africa, drums talk about the drama of life. Life, with its rhythms and cycles, is dance - and dance is life.

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Members of the World Music Ensemble with Master Dancer Helen Mensah.

Talking Drums, an ensemble of Ghanaian and American drummers and dancers, will join Bowdoin College's World Music Ensemble to present a concert of traditional West African music and dance at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 10, in Morrell Lounge, David Saul Smith Union.

The previous day, Saturday, April 9, Talking Drums will give a demonstration of West African traditions. Their dance movements draw from everyday activities, expressing experience in rhythm and responding to drums, gourds and bells. At this demonstration, the audience will have the opportunity to dance with the ensemble, learning the relationships between music and movement. The presentation will be given at 12:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center. Seating is limited.

Both the concert and the demonstration are open to the public and free of charge.

These events are the conclusion of a two-week teaching residency at Bowdoin by Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah and Master Dancer Helen Mensah, both members of the Talking Drums and both from Ghana.

In March, Adzenyah and Mensah shared the experience of music and dance with the World Music Ensemble and director Robert Greenlee, promoting and expanding intercultural experience and personal awareness.

Talking Drums are joining the residency in April to refine the burgeoning skills of the students. The residency wraps up with the public demonstration and concert, April 9 and 10.

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Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah.

Abraham Adzenyah is a Fanti, born in the village of Gomoa Aboso, in the south central part of Ghana. The Ghana National Dance Ensemble named him a Master Drummer. For the last 39 years, he has taught West African drumming at Wesleyan University, and across the United States. The drumming is a complex mix of overlapping beat patterns. Adzenyah warns students that they cannot learn this music by tapping their feet; instead he points to his chest: "The music has to be in there."

Helen Mensah is teaching the Bowdoin students to dance to the beats. She was also a member of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble. She teaches West African dance at Wesleyan University, and African games, stories and dance to children at the Oddfellows Playhouse, both in Middletown, Conn.

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Master Dancer Helen Mensah.

Adzenyah and Mensah are both members of Talking Drums. Based in Middletown, Connecticut, the group has been featured in concerts throughout the United States and Canada. The Africans in the group have performed throughout the world as members of Ghana's national troupe, the Ghana Dance Ensemble. Their reunion in Talking Drums gives Americans a unique opportunity to witness authentic West African music and dance.

The traditional West African music and dance presented by Talking Drums is derived from occasions and ceremonies including festival celebrations, mourning, work, and rituals that are an important part of African life.

In Ghana, the most important events in the community have special dances to enhance their meaning and significance. Dance is a language, a mode of expression. It addresses itself to the mind, through the heart, using related, relevant, and significant movements. Ghanaian dance movements have their basic counterparts in everyday activities. The movements express special and real life experiences in rhythmic sequences, responding to musical and poetic stimuli. Drums and songs play a vital role. They set the scene and create the mood and the atmosphere for the dancers.

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Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah works with members of the World Music Ensemble.

In West Africa, music is learned without notation and allows access to everyone, regardless of ability. Adzenyah embraces the inclusive nature of this music: "If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing." Bowdoin's World Music Ensemble (WME) also embraces this philosophy. WME is a non-auditioned group of students, some with no prior music experience. The musical instruments include a variety of drums from different ethnic groups in West Africa including those of the Ewe and Fanti people, including hand-carved drums from single logs ranging in size from small to more than four feet tall; gourd rattles with seeds or shells attached (axatse); and metal bells of various sizes and shapes (gangkokui, toke, frikyiwa, dawuro). Music and dance represents a variety of cutural traditions including Gahu, Agbekor, Kpanlogo and Damba.

For more information, contact the Residency Coordinator at email lindar@maine.rr.com or 207-671-8501, or the Bowdoin Music Department at 207-725-3747.

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