Author Archives: John Tullo
Drumroots African Drumming Course at The Zion Arts Centre; Performance Showcase (Video)
We have now completed our six week African drumming course at The Zion Arts Centre! The course was oversubscribed with enthusiastic students of a very broad range of experience and ability. This presented us with one of the most challenging but eventually rewarding courses we have ever run. With a combination of hard work by our students, and us carefully selecting the pieces we chose to teach, as well as how far to push our students, and putting them on parts where they seemed most suited and comfortable; the music progressed well and eventually we ended up a tight and polished performance group just in time! (more…)
Drumroots Performance; African Drumming Course Showcase + Tanante Gig at The Zion Arts Centre
As the end of our current six week African Drumming course at The Zion Arts Centre draws near, we are honing the skills of the participating students for their end performance. Thus far we have worked very hard to bring out the very best from a mixed group and tried to put people in the best places to produce an exciting end performance spectacle. The group will appear in the foyer/bar space of The Zion Arts centre to showcase what they have learnt to friends, family and West African music lovers. Their performance will be followed by a short show by our own performance group Tanante. The whole event will be free to all to come along and enjoy, so please get down and show support for our hard working students!
(more…)
Drumroots Professional Djembe Drums New for 2012
Fed up with cheap tourist style drums commonly found here in the UK? Drumroots are proud to present our new range of top quality professional djembes. We at Drumroots decided it was time to source and build djembes that are of the highest standard.
It has taken our team over a year to hand pick these hardwood Lenke shells, have them intricately carved with beautiful designs, transport them and finally have them completed here with fitted rings, custom made rope and the finest goat skins. And it has been worth all the time and effort as we now have a full batch of professional Guinea djembes that are unmatched in sound and aesthetics.
(more…)
Drumroots African Drumming Workshop School Assembly (Video)
We thought it high time we got a video showing an example of the sort of thing that we do in schools up online for you to see. As well as simply delivering workshops in schools we can focus the education to work towards an end performance in a school assembly or after school showcase. This not only helps focus children’s minds (with the thought of the rest of the school or their mum’s and dad’s coming to see them) but it also allows the whole school, teachers and family’s to benefit from a class or year group’s leaning activity.
Here is a short clip of a school assembly showing what even very young children can achieve in a very short amount of time (in this case 1.5 hours) and how we can help them bring it to share with the rest of the school. (more…)
Back From Training with Sipa in Touba Kabira, Senegal (Video)
Just a quick note to say that we the Drumroots team are back from an all too brief stay and bit training time in Senegal. We returned again to the southern region of Cassamance to stay at our second home; Touba Kabira, the beautiful guest house in Abene belonging to our good friend and Tanante dancer Sens Sagna. Here we fitted in as much time as we could to study with our teacher Sipa (Mohammed Sylla) and his group Wassalon. We’ve stayed here many times now, never fail to have a good time and feel well looked after and always look forward to returning.
Ever dreamt of traveling to West Arica to staying this beautiful region? Here you can either learn djembe music (with our highly recommended teacher, Sipa), or the study traditional drumming of that region, Segrouba or even simply to escape to the jungle to relax this idyllic Atlantic beach town. You might also be interested to see the infamous Abene festival, if so why not step just outside the main centre of Abene and stay at Touba Kabira? (more…)
Drumroots Youtube Channel (Video)
For those who don’t yet know, Drumroots our very own Youtube channel. Here you can find videos of some of our best Tanante concerts, videos of other groups from our Drumroots Live events, videos of our travels to West Africa with footage of traditional village festival, African performance groups and much more. Follow the link to our Youtube channel, check out the videos and don’t forget to subscribe, we’ve got a whole bunch of as yet unreleased videos of our experiences over years that we’ll now be putting out to share with you regularly. (more…)
New Drumroots Uniform Printed By One69a
As part of our on-going re-brand process, and our old Drumroots branded clothing looking rather worn out and faded, we thought it time for new uniforms. We asked the good people at Manchester screen printers, One69a to make us a full new set of Tshirts, vests and shirts. Emblazed with our new logos in full colour and of course the website, the garments are looking really smart for us to wear at our work in schools, businesses and at concerts. (more…)
Drumroots African Drumming Course 2012 at Zion Arts Centre (Starts March 22nd)
After the success of our numerous previous courses, we’re back for another ‘workshop band’ course for 2012. This time hosted at the prestigious space of the Zion Arts Centre, the course will be every Thursday over six weeks and will culminate in an end performance in Zion Arts Centre (on Friday 27th 2012). We will take the group of participants though all aspects of traditional West African rhythms and will focus on forming it into a ‘workshop band’, by teaching a full complement rhythms new to Manchester on both djembe and dundun, compete with accompaniments, choreographed arrangements, solo parts for those who wish to push themselves even further. The sessions will be fun and energetic, yet designed to accommodate newcomers, but extensive enough to test even the best drummers.
(more…)
Mamady Keita Weekend 2012 CANCELED!
Due to the sad news that Mamady Keita was hospitalised though complications surrounding his known congestive heart disease, the MK2012 weekender has been entirely canceled, including the evening performance programme with Tanante with Iya Sako.
Like everyone we are very sad and shocked by this news and also disappointed that it cannot go ahead. Our thoughts and wishes are with Mamady, and hope he has a speedy recovery. Thanks to Djembeschool and all involved for organising the weekend and bad luck that all your efforts were thwarted by the affliction. We hope that you’re not dispirited and re-organise the event when Mamady returns to good health.
(more…)
Mamady Keita Weekend 2012 Confirmed: Tanante to perform with Iya Sako.
Despite the slow sales of ticket at first, in the early New Year things have picked up and the Mamady Keita Weekend Workshop 2012 and evening performance at Bristol’s DMAC (Dance, Music, Arts Collective) is now confirmed! For those that don’t know, Madady Keita is the world’s most famous djembe player and teacher and we are lucky enough to have him visit the UK for a weekend of workshops this February. Furthermore, to celebrate the occasion, there will be a full evening of entertainment showcasing some of the best African drumming and dance acts in the country, including including Tolo Ko Tolo, Hamana, and our very own Tanante with Iya Sako.
(more…)
