UK: 'THE MASTER DRUMMERS OF AFRICA', A 15-PIECE BAND TAKE THEIR UNIQUE SOUND TO LONDON'S QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL

Record ID: 386674

  • Title: UK: 'THE MASTER DRUMMERS OF AFRICA', A 15-PIECE BAND TAKE THEIR UNIQUE SOUND TO LONDON'S QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL
  • Date: 21st July 1999
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) TAWAMANDA SAYING "This type of music has something deep which is really what most African people are - it sort of touches to the core. And because of that even though young people might enjoy Western pop music, they still get to touch back to their roots, to the African basic rhythms there, from the drums, from the instruments like the bira, the marim
  • Embargoed: 5th August 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA82IZGMHSRB2RQZXN4B0Z4S23G
  • Story Text: The drum comes into a league of its own at London's
    Queen Elizabeth Hall as a 15-piece ensemble known as The
    Master Drummers of Africa prepare to take their unique sound
    around the world.

    They've brought their instruments from countries as
    diverse as Ghana, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ethiopia and
    Sierra Leone.And one thing unites them all -- the drum.

    Founded in 1979 by Ghanian drummer Lord Eric Sugumugu,
    The Master Drummers of Africa are bringing a collection of
    more than 3,000 tribal rhythms to London's Queen Elizabeth
    Hall.It's the fourth time they're performing here - previous
    shows have been with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Georgie
    Fame...the list really is endless.It's a reflection of the
    brilliance of their art that leading musicians all over the
    world are queuing up to work with them - and a reflection of
    the fusion between the British music scene and African music
    that reached its peak in the sixties.

    The mix of sounds, from tribal, celebratory to hypnotic
    and explosive reveals the huge mix of cultures within the
    group as well as the binding force at the heart of all these
    people.Lord Eric says that the place of the drum within
    African society cannot be underestimated: 'The drum is very
    important to us, especially coming from Ghana - home of drums
    - the drum speaks before any ceremony, the drum speaks before
    any celebration, so the drum is very, very powerful.' It's
    also a healing force that works on a spiritual level as much
    as a purely musical one.

    Tawanda Mabere has come from Zimbabwe.He says that the
    basic rhythm of the drum has resonance with every human being
    all over the world: 'It comes from the heartbeat - but that is
    interaction with the environment.People who live on the
    hillside for example might be playing things as they run down
    the hill, people in the valleys might have a different tempo
    partly to do with the life that they live in - it's all to do
    with the geography of the different parts of Africa.'
    Watching the Master Drummers is in part an insight into
    a very different culture, it's also a startling reminder of
    how far the West has come from the core values at the root of
    African music.Because it's the ancestry and values dating
    back thousands of years that drive this ancient sound.And
    it's this that gives it its unique power and makes it so
    refreshing to Western ears.
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