dunun village is this weekend.

DV started around 2000 at a Rainbow Gathering of all places. at this particular Rainbow, a bunch of west african drum/dance students formed their own camp and called it Dunun Village. soon after they started to seek out a piece of land where they could hold a gathering every spring and fall for west african drum/dance students and teachers could come and play, teach and party together.

the gathering has hosted some prominent african artists: bolokada conde, abdoulaye diakite, alysco diabate, tonton sylla, salif kone, fana bangoura, moussa camara etc etc.

dance classes are held in DIY tent on the dirt. drumming can happen anywhere and everywhere and at all times of night.

students come from all over the west coast and have even flown in from the east coast and japan to attend. i've seen gatherings as big as 150 and as small as 50ish.

o yea...and it's pretty much fee. all that's asked is that you donate $$ to the family that owns the land and pack...

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So, here is an update from Mamady's Mini-Guinea camp in San Diego. I'm jet-lagged as all hell, so this is going be quite brief...

Linda and I got on a plane Saturday evening, after teaching two drum classes and a dance class in the morning. Flight was uneventful. The most notable thing about it is that it takes about 20 hours door-to-door to finally get there

We arrived 5:30pm and got to our truly shabby and awful (but cheap) hotel near LAX by about 7:30pm. Looking for dinner, we ended up at a strip mall that appeared to be the only available option within walking distance; the kind of place with about six different food outlets, all of which have "cholesterol overdose" or "food poisoning to be expected" somewhere in the fine print. In the end, we settled on the least-dangerous looking place, a small Indian restaurant. We ended up getting one of the best Indian meals I've had in...

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Day 10 (Friday) of the camp.

Last day of teaching--the performance will be tomorrow.

The intermediate group finished Mendiani. Not easy to feel, and quite a difficult solo.

The advanced group quickly rehearsed Djigui and then moved on to one of Mamady's dununba compositions called Seli Mafo. "Seli" means celebration or prayer, and "Mafo" means good or happy. In other words, it means "Happy party".

On days of festivals and celebrations, there is a custom among the Mandingue people to have a group of drummers walk around the village to wake people up in a joyful way at 5:00 am (!) in preparation of the day's celebrations. I asked whether people wouldn't throw things at the musicians for being woken up at 5:00am by drums and the answer was "only money"

Normally, a variety of traditional party rhythms are played for this occasion; Mamady composed this rhythm...

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i've been a teacher of djembe and dunun for 4 years, but i've been playing djembe 4 times that long. when people ask me why i didn't start earlier, i tell them that i never wanted to be an authority on djembe, but also i never knew what teaching would come to mean to me.

before i began teaching djembe i had taught esl and health topics. english is a language that opens up many avenues for people - migration, jobs, meeting a wider range of people on travels, etc. health topics, on the other hand, educate the public on health issues and options. often it's a means to create bridges so that people can seek services when they are needed.

when i teach the djembe, it's all those things and more. it's not so much whether they can play with the right technique and feel, but to open up avenues for self expression, working together in harmony, creating bridges between people, inspiring and motivating, improving people's self esteem, the list goes on...

lately i've been involved a little more with...

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I'm just now seeing the posts you guys had about my bags form 2009... thanks for the comments and view points. i need that bit of info on how you think the bags where done. Good, Bad, alright, GREAT!... what ever, the point is there's always room for improvement.
I'm working on the new line now. I've decided to do a "student Level" & a "Pro Level". I'm really trying to change the game in terms of the weight, style, durability, on the bags keeping in mind the craftsmanship in what Tony Lagrutta was going after in a higher quality (Instrument) djembe bag/case. Not commenting on what happened with Tony, but more importantly keep in mind that this is a CLASSICAL INSTRUMENT and it should be treated as such from the HISTORICAL value with its place in history and that its an instrument that's made up of natural raw materials.
Who wants a bag that weigh's half of the weight of there drum? I'm really trying not to put to much hard ware on the case but at the same time...

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