A once in a lifetime opportunity to drum with and learn about a fast disappearing culture and musical tradition from Niger supergorup, The Endless Journey.
Currently touring the UK and playing at RNCM in Manchester on Tuesday 3rd July as part of the We Face Forward festival of art and music from West Africa, the band brings together four musicians from two of Niger’s most internationally celebrated groups: Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa.
For the last six years both groups have been preoccupied with bringing the music and culture of their nomadic tribes to the world stage. But now there is a more urgent need to move from being cultural ambassadors to being cultural activists. Each time they return to Niger it is more evident that traditions, and with it cultural identity, are being rapidly lost.
The session is led by Oumarou Adamou, the son of a Hausa Griot and a famed percussionist specialising in the Kolangou (talking drum). He is supported by his lifelong friend Mamane Barka, a charismatic musician and ethnomusicologist widely known in Niger as a virtuoso ugurumi player... together, their swirling strings, driving rhythms and haunting vocals evoke the vast open spaces of the desert and the very soul of nomadic life.
The workshop for intermediate and advanced drummers of one or two years experience will be percussion based, using djembe drums. Please bring your own instrument. (We have a small stock of Djembes to borrow or buy, please contact us on education@bandonthewall.org if you do not have access to an instrument). We recommend that you book as soon as possible, spaces are limited and the demand will be high.
Date: Monday July 2nd 2012
Time: 7.00-8.30pm
Venue: The Picturehouse at Band on the Wall
Price: £10