Life

Hitting a different beat for locals over the World Cup

By Wendy Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-05 09:48

Local fans put on a Djembe show in the Temple of Heaven last week. [Photos by Wang Jing / China Daily]

Related video: Wendy Qian's perspective on the drum

Everyone, gather together! The buzzes created by the South African stadium horns "vuvuzelas" at the World Cup tournaments are perhaps not pleasant to some. However, the World Cup event has drawn exciting media buzz around African culture. African food, colors and music are commercially targeted during this international sports extravaganza. Djembe, an African hand drum, has been very popular in China years before the South Africa World Cup. The circle of drummers continues to thrive, especially in Beijing.

Beijing has a large group of djembe drummers. Drum Kuku and the People's Djembe Ensemble are two major groups that play recreationally and commercially. They are no exclusive clubs: both are welcoming with few obligations - "Just come and drum!"

"The basics of djembe are easy to learn. This provides people with jobs, like busy white collars, a great way to have fun," said Tian Yang, 25, one of the old-time members of Drum Kuku, who started in 2007.

Beijingers learn to tap out a rhythm on the Djembe. [China Daily]

Tian believes that people are affected by the drumbeat in a special way. "Unlike other instrumental sounds, drumming aims toward the heart. Almost uncontrollably, people want to shake and dance when they hear an encouraging beat."

While many different people improvise at the weekly gatherings in parks, such as teachers, programmers, civil workers and students, a devoted group of people rehearse for formal performances.

The People's Djembe Ensemble has performed on many TV shows and charity events. They have informal gatherings with improvised performances on boats that float around Houhai. Their steady beat moves between other boats and under the bridge, creating a scene and attracting tourists' attention.

New Younger, a Chinese journalist who asked to use his nickname, is part of the People's Djembe Ensemble. He first heard about djembe from an African friend back in 2008. After talking to a Yunnan friend who makes drums, New Younger started playing the djembe.

Tian said the high key of the djembe often distracts listeners from the melody to the drum beat, which is why the djembe is played differently in songs than when it is played with djembe ensembles.

Sometimes Drum Kuku gathers people together to play djembe for fun at parks like Ditan Park. Other times they perform at more formal events such as the 798 art district festivals and corporate anniversary celebrations.

During these performances, Drum Kuku members even dress in colorful African style clothing and play the djembe with the combination of other African instruments, such as the dunanba and the African xylophone, in combination with vocals.

Tian is one of the performers. Even though he sings the African songs phonetically and knows little about the language, he reads the meanings of songs online and tries to express similar feelings.

"Many djembe songs are particular-they have songs only used for circumcision ceremonies, which we never play," he said.

A simple djembe beat can be very rewarding, but it does not guarantee a quick route for improvement. Like all instruments, djembe requires time for lessons and practice.

Hitting a drum in scarlet style. [China Daily]

Tian says that the size of their drum circle has fluctuations. "It's perfectly normal. Many people come because djembe is fun and easy to start. They leave once when they hit the bottleneck of slow improvement."

Tian is also an owner of a djembe store and teacher of many prospective drummers. He chuckles while admitting that his sales are boosted by people's short-lived efforts.

Unlike Tian, who is fully involved in djembe, people with different occupations have different levels of dedication for playing djembe.

This sparks a dilemma: should musicians playing djembe just as a weekend hobby, or should they become more professional and specialized in African music? That would mean less freedom to improvise.

"Now that's a difficult choice," said New Younger. "There are not many djembe sources online, but some of us in the People's Djembe Ensemble are willing to practice harder and become more specialized."

Two Djembe players get caught up in their performance. [China Daily]