Just awesome!
Humility - #1 Criterion for Djembe Master
A true djembe master is humble. I have never met a master drummer who was not humble. I have met good drummers who were arrogant but never a master. To get to the level of being a djembe master you have to be humble, kind and respectful to everyone. A master has to open his heart to all people and life.
This is a very important piece of information for anyone on the spiritual path of djembe drumming. You cannot play the djembe well without opening your heart. All of the masters will acknowledge this fact. Some people may feel this is a nice idea but in reality it all comes down to raw talent and how many hours you put into the practice of the drum. I beg to differ here. I have never met a djembe player with a bad attitude who I can consider to be a master drummer. I truly believe this to be an impossibility.
The djembe is a clean drum. The spirit of the djembe is clean. One cannot play djembe well without the spirit. The spirit will never come into a dirty vessel. If you are truly a good person and you are kind with everyone you have a chance to be a master djembe player. All that is left is that you dig for the truth, study and practice a lot.
It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. God made different colors because variety is beautiful look at the rainbow. The djembe is a drum of unity not separation. It brings people together in friendship, happiness and healing. This is the power of the djembe that truly attracts people.
Masters are humble. People should all recognize this fact. It is not just a nice quality of a djembe player, it is a requirement. Negativity and bad feelings have no place inside the djembe.
If you have some sadness or anger about something, you must always drop that when you sit down to drum or stand up to dance. After you are done drumming you can go back again to your problems. Don’t disrespect the djembe by bringing your negativity inside a drum which is by nature clean and peaceful.
What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?
A.Making drums: If we paid the Africans what they should get paid making drums with us, a djembe drum would cost $4,000.- instead of $500.- But the economy doesn’t currently work that way and though we pay the drum builders well, we are not able to sell drums at the price they deserve to be.
Please keep this in mind if you are truly looking at African made drums. Most drums aren’t. Do you want your djembe to be made in China?!
Our friend Chris, master chef and new drummer gets in the Patriot Ledger! Check out the piece here.
Walden Pond inspires people in so many different ways. For a 51-year-old Arlington man, it is the place he goes to drum and “get rid of my demons.”
I first heard the soft sound of the drums coming from on top of a drumlin as I returned from a three-hour walk along the Fairhaven Trail, crossed the railroad tracks behind Walden Pond, and headed towards the parking area.
Three young people from Indiana came towards me, and they were also looking to see where the drummer might be. It was a soothing and intriguing rhythm that he was sounding.
Then I looked up and decided the drummer must be at the top of a big hill, or drumlin, and slowly began walking that way.
When I got in sight of the drummer, he stopped. “Can I come talk to you?” I asked. He paused and then said, “Sure.”
This video shows what I found.
He credits Alan Tauber, his teacher and mentor at The Drum Connection in Arlington.
