My belated report from the Bundagen drum and dance camp with Epizo Bangoura…

I drove from Brisbane towards Coffs Harbour on the Saturday, staying with friends overnight near the half-way mark. Not a nice drive because it was pouring with rain. The entire east coast of Australia was covered by dense clouds, and it had been raining steadily for two days already.

On the Sunday morning, I drove through more heavy rain and, having looked at the weather report, which predicted at least another week of more of the same, I decided that I wasn't going to risk staying in a small two-person tent for the whole week without extra protection. So I stopped at a camping store in Coffs Harbour and bought a 4x5m tarp, six poles, rope, and pegs to provide some additional protection from the rain. It set me back almost $200 but, by the end of the week, I was glad I did it…

When I got to Bundagen, mos...

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Final day of the camp, with one rehearsal at 2:00pm and then the performance at 5:00pm.

This is the hottest and most humid day I've experienced so far. By 3:00pm, the temperature was at 39C (102F), with humidity at 92%. Truly awful.

We did another run-through of the pyramid, including solos by a few people. You can listen to it in this post. After the rehearsal, we all piled into a bus that took us to the performance venue in the middle of town, a large open-air amphitheatre, large enough to hold probably around 1000 people. We deposited our drums back-stage and then had about 1.5 hours time for shopping and to grab a bite to eat.

Several groups performed prior to the pyramid (which was the final act), including a group from India, Japanese Kodo drummers, and the Lila Drum Ensemble. When we finally went on stage, temperature was still in the...

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Day 8:

The intermediate group learned two rhythms. The first one was Sewa (which I believe Mamady created himself—I missed the start of the session, so I have no background info on it). The rhythm has a distinct Ivory Coast feel to it. The dunduns are played upright without bells, and the accompaniments are similar to Bete and Begbe (both from Ivory Coast). The second rhythm was Kotedjuga. (It's called Kotedjuga in Guinea and Koredjuga in Mali.)

Mamady improvised to Kotedjuga at the end of the session. Here is a recording.

The advanced group worked on Mamady's solo technique for Soliwulen. Most people were struggling severely with the last two techniques, which require precise micro-timing to sound right.

Mamady improvised to Soliwulen, which was a treat. You can listen to it here.

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Day 7:

The intermediates continued to work on Yankadi/Macru and spent the entire session on that.

The advanced group finished the solo for Djagbe, and Mamady then showed the dunduns for Djagba. It's Djagbe as it is played in the Kouroussa region, where they use a different dundun pattern.

Mamady also improvised to Djagbe. The improvisations he does once he has finished teaching a rhythm are a highlight of his camps for me. You get to sit right there and are treated to some of the best djembe playing anywhere in the world. You can find a recording of it in the Media section.

The advanced group then moved on to Soliwulen and finished all the basic parts for that. Mamady will teach his solo technique for Soliwulen today.

The pyramid added another rhythm slotted in between Kedu and Soliwulen: Tiriba. This is the first time I've seen Mamady use six rhythms instead of five...

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Day 5:

Jeremy did his djembe re-skinning demonstration and also gave an intersting talk about the different types of wood that are traditionally used and their respective characteristics. He also talked about the importance of matchintg the skin to the type of wood. Intersting stuff...

For the reskinning, he used a stitching method to hold the skin tight over the flesh ring instead of the rope loop method I've been using. I can see how the stitching will achieve somewhat higher tension on the skin when it is wet, before doing the wet pull. But then, the method is more labor intensve, and I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort. I think I will stick with my tried and true method for the time being.

Another thing that came as a surprise to me was that he did not use any wrap at all on the flesh ring. In fact, Jeremy claimed that doing so makes it more likely rather than less likely for the skin to slip.

This doesn't match my own experience, but I can see that wrapping too thinly around...

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