My trip to Mali didn't start too well. What should have been a 4/5 hour flight turned into a 9 hour extravaganza.

I noticed that there was a couple of people walking around the plance with orange arm bands that say police on them. One of them address the airplane, but spoke too quickly and I lost him early, so I had no idea about what was to come.

The flight was about 15 minutes late when a police van pulled up beside the plane and 2 people carried a man in a straight jacket kicking and screaming into the plane.

I quickly put 2+1 together and reasoned that it must be a deportee, and indeed I wasn't wrong. They had cleared 3 rows at the back of the plane and they needed every inch of space to try and contain this guy.

The moment he came on board he wouldn't stop screaming "France chez moi, France chez moi"("France is my home, France is my home"). You can't imagine how disturbing this was, and it only took a few minutes before people started to protest.

6/7 people...

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Hi, I am going to Gambia on the 7th December 2009, I am going on my own and staying at Kotu beach and want to get in as much drumming as I can am pretty new to Djembie but love it, so would be grateful for any info am on a bit of a tight budget Gwen

I recently started sharing the little I know about playing Djembe with youth’s ages 8 to 11. It is challenging to hold their attention but so rewarding when I see the youngsters 'get it'. I am motivated to share with the youth because to me the future of maintaining the integrity of the traditional West African rhythms is in found in the hearts, minds and spirits of youth inclined to view West African rhythms as important. Trouble is even for the ones that demonstrate a strong connection with the rhythm they must divide their attention with the computers, cell phones and I-pods. I am introducing this topic because I would like to hear stories of teachers of the rhythms, to especially the youth. What are your experiences your triumphs and techniques used to effectively reach the youth?

really really really hot ensemble music will only be as good as the dununs.

I attended last week's camp with Epizo Bangoura at Bent's Basin.

This was the first (and probably only) time the camp was held there. Normally, it happens at the Bundagen eco community near Coffs Harbour, but that venue wasn't available this year. Bent's Basin is a state conservation area with a large park, camp sites, and an education centre (basically a large hall) where we did our drumming and dancing.

Because Bent's Basin is twelve hour's drive from Brisbane, I wasn't planning to attend—too far to drive and, because of the camping-only accommodation, pretty much impossible to do by flying. Fortunately, Matt, a drumming mate of mine, rang a few days before the camp and offered to pick me up from Sydney airport and let me sleep in his van, so I decided to attend on short notice.

The camp ran from Monday to Thursday. Only four days this time instead of the usual seven, mostly due to the change of venue. (Quite a number of people had already bought tickets to the Bellingen Carnival, w...

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