s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Ok, African drumming ? It’s, like, hard ? I mean, it’s not HARD, hard — you’re just hitting a drum, and doing it in one of a skillion very specific rhythms. Sure, I do that with the dumbek. But ow those rhythms really just bend my head around. I grok syncopation; I grok off-beats. But most of these rhythms have six or eight separate parts — some for djembe and some for the big drum (which itself nearly always requires you to play a separate rhythm altogether on the cowbell with your off hand…) — and they fit together in the most unexpected, counter-intuitive ways(counter-intuitive for me, anyway).

Lucky me, I enjoy having my head bent. W00t !