Bonjour - Winnipeg Manitoba Canada!

[nkolisnyk]

Hi there, so I suppose I post an introduction, since I've been trawling the forum for the past 2 years!

I've played percussion since 1997, but fell into the polyrhythm trap about 5 years ago, when I received my first djembe for my Birthday. I took a private lesson out of Hand Drum Rhythms (they're located here in Winnipeg and in Vicoria BC) by Richard Fontaine. Even a simple rhythm like tat-tu-tat hooked me and prompted me to explore more.

Since then, I have learned much material and am fortunate to have been invited to play in the West African drumming group Batuque Percussion, who's very leader was the one who taught me those basic rhythms. We concentrate on the trad rhythms Rich learned from Mamady when he was studying in Guinea as well as from Bruno Genero in Italy.

I also joined a group called Chango (pronounced shunGO, the Yoruba god of thunder) which is comprised of 4 friends who want to play out our material we learned from various djembe teachers. Check out our website: http://www.changodrumming.wordpress.com

I'm from Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. Despite being in the geographic center of North America, this city is one of the most culturally diverse places in all of the Americas. We have a yearly festival called Folklarama (I know...) where each cultural group turns their community center into a venue where you can experience a night in their country. There's like 40 different venues to choose. We also have a massive French community here, which lends itself as a welcome place for people from West Africa.

I started taking french lessons about the same time I started djembe, and it paid off in a way that I couldn't imagine. I made friend with Yamoussa Bangoura. He's a Drum/Dance/Acrobat from Guinea, and has formed the group Kalabante http://www.kalabante.org/. They pay regular visits to Winnipeg to collaborate with local drummers and teach lessons on everything they know. I've gotten to know him personally over the years and he's taught me alot.

While playing, I've gone through a number of goatskins. Since nobody in Winnipeg was for hire to skin my drum, I decided to tap into this forum's knowledge to take up the craft. I started a small side business out of it, and in the past 3 years have re-skinned just under 90 drums for people around Winnipeg.

So thanks for the info!!! Sure makes the world feel alot smaller!

Nick

[freefeet]

Hi!