The drummers of We All break, in town to play the Modlin Center for the Arts, will offer a clinic in the drums of Haitian Vodou on Wednesday, September 27 at 6:00 p.m. Vodou drumming is an ensemble art form featuring polyrhythm, conversation, improvisation, power, and surprise delivered through a myriad of highly evolved techniques.
A syncretic tradition with Dahomean, Yoruban, and Congolese roots, Haitian drumming is ordered in accordance with “nations” of rhythms, such as Rada, Nago, Kongo, Ibo, Petwo, Djouba, and Banda, among others. Daniel Brevil, “Fanfan” Jean-Guy Rene and Markus Schwartz will demonstrate the rhythms of these categories through ensemble playing and break down the constituent parts with examples of each drum pattern. They will offer spiritual and political context, which is inseparable from the development of the drumming and the birth of Haiti as an independent nation. Questions and comments from those in attendance will be encouraged.
The clinic will take place in the James Black Music Center Recital Hall. It is free and open to all to attend.