Do you remember when Tom Cruise (as Jerry McGuire the Sports Agent) says to Cuba Gooding, "... Help me, to help you!" Well, here we go again! I think this Drumming Event: Drumming An End To Poverty, the opening of the Africa/Middle East Regional MIcro Credit Summit on April, 7th in Nairobi, Kenya will be a success in that it will focus the attention of the world on the ugliness of Poverty. This is the main objective of the event and the Summit.
But ... it will also do a few other things as well. It will be the first REAL international event ... televised on the networks and on the Internet that features the Drum as the lead voice in the music! It will also popularize the Drum Circle as a means for making meaning and community of purpose. As a long time professional musician I have to tell you a secret. If you play any instrument well enough to work with others to make music then you know this ... others, simply do not!
The strongest spiritual experience I ever, ever had was while playing in a small club in New York's Greenwich Village ... many years ago. I will never forget it, but it was not the first time it happened to me and I hope it will not be the last. That shared psychic connection ... that link of minds that happens only in church or during a linked musical community is a profound true, not chemically induced high. Non musicians simply have to find it in other ways. Music is the ultimate high and it can be a contact high ... sometimes when the groove is there, it transmits to the audience and you can both see it happen and feel it happen in concerts every once in a while. It is great to feel it in the audience but let me share this with you. There is nothing like being part of the force that creates it. Ok... back to drums.
Learning to play a tonal instrument is an arduous and (in the beginning) tedious and boring job. Only the talented, dedicated and/or those with strict parents, make the leap from pain to pleasure. From rank amateur to capable musician. This is true of Drums also ... BUT There is magic in the drum! Anyone, anyone with a very small amount of training can be lifted out of the common world and transported to that linked community of magic. The means is the Drum Circle. The linked power of the basic rhythm is a strong carrier of the soul. It is one of the best kept secrets ... the drum cricle is a transformative experience and soon it will be out of the closet. The secret will be shared with all who take the time (and not a lot of time) to just go and do it. This is why the drum is so much a part of so many religious and spiritual traditions.
When you play in a drum circle you make friends who are much more than friends ... you make community and that is one of the most powerful secrets you will learn. Trust me ... more to come on this. but I'm tired (not delusional, just ... tired) Go buy a drum, send me an email, let's talk about it.
More to come ...
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I would like to think as this event focuses people on the ugliness of poverty it also draws their attention to the opportunity that microfinance brings to people to help them lift themselves out of poverty!
ReplyDeleteI think this event could be positive as far as at least sending positive energies into the universe and maybe that energy shall reap a more positive outlook on charitable giving to end poverty.
ReplyDeleteThe act it's self is powerful.
And enlightening.
respect