DrumRoots

Drumroots African Drumming Course at The Zion Arts Centre; Performance Showcase (Video)

John Tullo — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:38:51 +0000

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!

The pressure was on as the course was always geared up to get the group ready for a performance showcase in one of the many performance spaces in the fantastic Zion Arts Centre building. With this in mind our group worked extremely hard in the relatively short space of time to get ready.

The performance event ran like a dream. The Zion staff as ever were on hand to help us get ready and set up. For the first act we were lucky enough to have good friends and musicians, appearing together live for the first time as a Kora (African harp) Duo; Holly Marland and Jonny Hodgekinson. Their performance got the night going and laid a wonderful ambience in the space as our guest’s, and the friends and family of the course participant arrived to witness this event.

Next up, and with plenty of nerves from our participating students, it was the turn of the workshop group. The result was fantastic with the group performing all three of the fairly complex arrangements that we had taught without a single hitch, putting out a high energy performance, turning all those nerves into buzz and precipitating some rather wild dancing by audience members!

Last of all, to cap the night off and to give the students a chance to unwind and enjoy the some music from a spectator’s point of view was our very own performance group, Tanante with dancing guest artist, Sens Sanga. It had been a while since we last played out and the first time we’d appeared in full force with our newest band member, Anna. The set went as well as we could have hoped and with the excellent energy, singing and cheers from the audience, and finally with a little encouragement it all went off with dancing and partying aplenty making it a joy to perform and a night to remember.

A massive thanks goes out to The Zion Arts Centre for hosting the event and all the staff for being so very helpful, but even bigger thanks goes out to our students who joined the course and played so well, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Please keep an eye on the website for more performances and drumming courses coming very soon. In the meantime, for you regular drumming fix we’re of course running our regular Tuesday night drop-in classes.

Drumroots Performance; African Drumming Course Showcase + Tanante Gig at The Zion Arts Centre

John Tullo — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:03:08 +0000

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!

NB/ This is an early evening event and we will be strictly sticking to the time allowed, please arrive a short while before the event starts, live music will be from 19.15. Also, the capacity in the space is limited so to avoid disappointment, make sure you get down on time.

Drumroots Professional Djembe Drums New for 2012

John Tullo — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:06:26 +0000

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.

If you are interested in purchasing one of our custom drums of the highest quality, please get in touch.

Drumroots African Drumming Workshop School Assembly (Video)

John Tullo — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:35:38 +0000

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.

Please forgive us for the poor video and (especially) audio quality, this certainly is not a professional video but should at least give you an idea of what we do. Make sure you what right through to the end and enjoy the audience participation!

Back From Training with Sipa in Touba Kabira, Senegal (Video)

John Tullo — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:34:35 +0000

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?

Anyone interested in anything that Abene has to offer, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll either do our best to help or put you in touch with our friends over there.

Here’s a video from our recent stay of just one of the few pieces we’ve learnt, hope you enjoy! (Keep an eye on our Youtube channel for more video’s coming soon).

Drumroots Youtube Channel (Video)

John Tullo — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:03:48 +0000

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.

Here’s our most rescent video release…

New Drumroots Uniform Printed By One69a

John Tullo — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:46:53 +0000

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.

One69a not only produce garments to order but also have an education section, teaching screen printing in schools and art education centres, as well running public workshops in screen printing. If you’ve ever felt inspired to produce you own clothing designs and never got round to it or not known how, check out their website and get booked onto a workshop. Alternatively if you need a batch of clothing made up, get in touch with One69a.

Drumroots African Drumming Course 2012 at Zion Arts Centre (Starts March 22nd)

John Tullo — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:38:13 +0000

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 27^th 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.
Spaces are limited and at this price we expect the course to sell out. To avoid disappointments, get in touch with Zion Arts centre as soon as possible. To hear what the Zion Arts Centre had to say, read on or click the link to visit their website.

‘Come and learn the powerful djembe and dundun drumming of West Africa. Suitable for the beginner and the experienced drummer; you will be challenged as we train the group in all aspects of the intricate traditional rhythms. At the end of the six weeks, the group will be ready for a spectacular performance at the Zion Arts Centre!’

Mamady Keita Weekend 2012 CANCELED!

John Tullo — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:02:26 +0000

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.

To read more about Mamady Keita’s condition and future plans, read on or follow the link.

From the Tamtam Mandeng website.

Mamady Health Update & Medical Donation Fund

February 10, 2012: As some of you know, Mamady was recently hospitalized in France with pulmonary edema, a serious condition of accumulated fluid in the lungs, which is one of the health issues brought on by his congestive heart disease. We are happy to report that he is doing very well and was released from the hospital early this week. He is chilling out for the month of February in Brussels as his doctors advised him and planning to return home to San Diego in early March. Mamady wants everyone to know that he is feeling much better and is following doctors’ orders to rest and regain his strength. He intends to resume his workshop schedule in San Diego in mid-March thru April and then begin the Grand Masters Tour with Famoudou Konate in May.

Mamady Keita Weekend 2012 Confirmed: Tanante to perform with Iya Sako.

John Tullo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:48:19 +0000

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.

There are still tickets available for both the workshops and the evening performances, so follow the link to the Djembeschool website, click the MK2012 and get it booked. There you can find details for the workshops and the full line up for the evening event.

For any more people traveling down from Manchester, there are a good few people form our circle of friends and students already making the trip down, so please feel free to get in touch and we’ll try and network you with people who may be able to help with a lift share