“Rhythms of the World”.

Posted on May 17 2008 in Feature Articles, Music, Uncategorized

It looked like a Christmas party on Friday afternoon, May 16th 2008, in the Fanning Elementary School auditorium; the children dancing and waving their arms, or strumming a couple of drumsticks on their knees and nodding their heads to the rhythm of the music, as Keith Mullins and Steve Bowers wrapped up the session of “Rhythms of the World.”

“Rhythms of the World” has been touring schools across the Atlantic provinces, showing children the three traditional sounds from the drums of Africa and weaving the history of the traditional sounds of Africa through to the music of black slaves in America and Cuba.

From his visit to Ghana and the hinterland, Mullins brought back a variety of traditional drums but also an insight into the significance of the traditional rhythms and how music becomes a part of a culture. In Mali, the drummer plays one rhythm as the fishermen haul in their nets, or another when a storm is coming.

Mullins, all the time picking up one instrument after another, demonstrating the notes and the instrument, artfully engages his audience, children, teachers and parents, in describing how the African Slave Trade in America separated the slave from his traditional drums. Showing the cultural resilience of a people wanting to retain their own music, Mullins explains to his audience that though slaves were not permitted to play drums until the end of slavery in 1865, after the American Civil War, the instruments that then became available to Afroamericans were the military drums used during the Civil war. It was these drums that Afroamericans began to incorporate into their music. It wasn’t until 1890 that the drum set as we know it today became an available instrument.

In Cuba, the slaves adapted the fruit box as a form of instrument. Mullins sits on one and begins to beat out the rhythm that is now reverberating through the audience. The children are invited to join in the drumming and they settle quickly to their task of finding the primeval rhythm. In a suprisingly short time Keith has them all under the spell of the rhythm; working the rhythym from a slow tapping into a faster rhythm and gradually as the pace quickens so too the intensity of the sound until it reaches a crescendo. Students are later followed by the teachers. Perhaps in the strangest combination of music and song, the audience sings the lyrics of “you are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” (lyrics reminiscent of the white music hall era), while drumming the rhythms of Africa.

From the Djembe to the Talking drum of Ghana, made of goatskin, to the Kpanlogo made from antelope skin, the base-tone-flat provide the three basic traditional sounds. In Cuba the barrel drums or Congos and the small bongo drum held between the legs are made from cowskin.

Keith Mullins is from Cape Breton Island. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in music from Dalhousie University under his belt, he went on to study Afro Cuban percussion in Havana, Cuba and more recently spent time in Ghana learning about African drums, African music and culture. Keith has performed with well-known artists such as Bruce Guthro, Isaac and Blewett, Salsa Picante, and Gordie Sampson.

Orignally produced in 2003 by Darren Gallop for East Cape Productions, a production company that specializes in interactive workshops for elementary, junior high and senior high school groups, “Rhythms of the World,” focuses on music, history and culture. It has toured throughout Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.