People of the Drum

I have never experienced an event like "People of the Drum." It was an amazing event. It was an event in the making by four very apparent drum groups in Portland and it was PHENOMENAL. Portland Taiko is a Japanese drumming group, which I will see whenever I have a chance. They are an amazing group and they are the group that spear-headed having this event that was a culmination of four very different cultural groups all connected by the drum. Here is a short description that I copied from the event Facebook page: "A collaboration with the Obo Addy Legacy Project (Ghanaian Drum and Dance ensemble), Medicine Bear (Native American Drum and Dance Ensemble), Mexica Tiahui (Aztec Drum and Dance Ensemble), Portland Taiko (Asian-American Drum Ensemble)."

First up was the Taiko. Amazing, as always. I swear that the room was vibrating with all the drumming.

There was an audience participation time.

Medicine Bear group was up next and this was a great experience as I had seen some drumming and Native American dancing a few times on one of the reservations at home in Wyoming. Reminded me of those times.

 And, the two dancers with the group were wonderful, as was their dress. All the bead work is amazing.

Up next was Obo Addy Legacy Project. It was wonderful to see these amazing, young individuals so enthralled and into the music of their native culture. Awesome.

 The gentleman at the microphone who is holding the drum is Obo Addy. He is the reason this group exists and was designated as a master drummer in his home country at the age of 6. He has made a big impact on the music culture of Portland and just now when I am writing this blog (Oct 19th--much past the actual event I'm blogging about) I found out that this wonderfully talented man and prominent man in his community died less than a month after this performance after a struggle with liver cancer. Here is a news story about him. After reading of this news this event means that much more to me and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to see and hear this wise, wise man speak and perform.

The last group was Mexica Tiahui. Once they started performing I realized I had seen them before. They performed at my workplace probably 5 years ago. I have a picture of them (well, some of them) interspersed with my participants. They were and still are wonderful. 

 There was also an audience participation section of this performance, as there also was with the Obo Addy group and Taiko. That was one of the amazing things about this event, people got to experience hands on, rather than just being audience and watching.

 After 3 hours of performances (my rear was very tired/sore from sitting on small plastic folding chairs) they came together as four cohesive groups for a finale. It was wonderful to see and hear the melding of the four cultures from four different corners of the world and see and feel the unity within the room. If only every person could experience events like this I think the world would be a better place.

If ever they have a follow-up "season" as they were doing this performance 3 total time this summer, I will be there.