Hmmm....It's been a minute since I last posted. Well I had the most wonderfull experience over the weekend. I went to my first drumming circle. It was all the way LIVE. For about 4-1/2 hours I beat on a conga drum and a wood block...My hands are still aching, but the swelling has gone down. I know...sounds bad, huh? But it was well worth it. There were black people, white people, hispanics... Black cubans...People of all hues and shades. It was a little piece of heaven. It's the world that only exists where music and rhythm is at the heart of it all. In my experience, Music is the only medium that crosses barriers. Not the business, but the art. It was the world that I wish I could experience everyday. THERE WAS NO CLASS DIVISION. We were all people...everyone contributed even if they only stood by and applauded. It was my first time attended...we did one piece where everyone with a drum had the opportunity had an to play a brief solo. Some of us did well and some of us did not so well. It was all good, and all fun! People danced, chanted, blew trumpets and saxophones, wooden flutes...We hit on anything that would make a sound. Someone had a whole drumset out there... The folks that performed impromptu African dance did their thang! I was so happy to see white and black people by rhythm and dancing together. I want to get my dance on too. Maybe next time! In another world, a world other than the park where we danced and drummed, people would have poked fun at the white women who danced, but you could clearly see that these women were in touch with their need to release and express themselves. I admired their freedom to be moved by rhythm and spirit, their willingness to share and commune with peoples of African descent, and be what some would term the minority. It simply felt like family...light skin and dark skin family...Music is our greatest hope...Music is where it's at! Music is going to be that thing that brings the people, the cultures together.

While I drummed there was no thinking. It was about being in the moment. When drumming and dancing it's hard to be anywhere else besides the now, the present.

I can't wait to go back!

Copyright © 2005 Blackgold347