by spiritdrum » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:21 pm
Well,
This is more about how I got into playing a percussion, not just congas.
Back when I was a kid, I took piano lessons for a year. I don't really remember whether it was something I wanted to do or my parents desire. Oh, I used to pound the keys, which didn't go over very well with my teacher and the type of music I was playing.
Fast forward, to around 1995, I very briefly met ANGEL LUÍS FIGUEROA, who introduced me to Jorge Bermudez a local perucssionist in the Bay area, and later contributor to the first book from dancinghands.com
After two classes from Jorge, trying to learn right handed (i'm left), I got frustrated with mano secreta and put the drum aside till 1998. While living in Lake Tahoe, Ca, I went to a Congolese dance workshop and was reintroduced to the drum. I bought an ashiko, moved to SF for graduate school, and starting going to the GG Park drum circle, where I would sit way up on the hill away from everyone.
After playing the only rhythm I knew for a while (?) and dealing with the daily verbal abuse from others, I sought a different type of group experience at the local city college with Kwaku Daddy from Ghana. It was in this class where first started playing with others and learning about different types of drums and other perucssion instruments.
Once I heard the djembe and saw Mamday Keita's documentary, everything changed. For the next couple of years, I studied West African style with a variety of teachers, but it wasn't until I took dunun classes with my dance teacher Mabeba Bagne that everything started to make sense, and I realized that the energy of the djembe increased my own crazy internal energy, instead of balancing.
I took another break from studying, though always returned to the Congolose Workshop because of the family feeling from the community. About three years ago, I introduced a friend to the West African style, and in return he took me a conga class.
Since then I have become more interested in Afro-cuban folkloric, kalimba and now a little didgeridoo. Since I am pretty tenacious, I haven't given up and have found a great encouraging group of men to play rumba with.
peace,
Lisa