Gary Moskowitz
The last time 78-year-old Evelyn Robison played the drums, she was
playing the snare in her high school drum line.
Her past experience proved useful this weekend during a West
African drumming and singing workshop led by Nigerian-born drummer
Ayo Adeyemi.
Adeyemi taught Robison and 11 other people basic hand-drumming
patterns associated with the Yoruba culture of Nigeria on Saturday
during a two-hour workshop at the La Crescenta Church of Religious
Science.
Adeyemi is a master drummer and Yoruba ceremonial leader who has
played with the Grateful Dead, Keith Richards and Carlos Santana.
"I love it," said Robison, a Glendale resident. "This is very
exciting. It lifts your spirits, and you feel very high. Vitality
sort of takes over."
Standing in front of the group with a Djembe drum, Adeyemi showed
the group how to play Djembe drums, bongos, the Ashiko drum and
Djun-Djun drums. While learning a new drum pattern or technique from
Adeyemi, participants often broke into laughter because of their
mistakes.
"As drummers, we count more than accountants," Adeyemi joked with
the group.
Adeyemi created complete songs during the workshop by teaching
complete drum patterns to the participants and then improvising over
the steady beat with high-pitched drums and by singing traditional
Yoruba songs.
"For me, this is my way of healing," said Adeyemi, 63. "I cannot
heal the world, but I can start small -- one person at a time. You
teach one person, and they will go and teach another. Drumming is
like meditation, it's like a heartbeat."
Glendale resident Marsha Scarbrough organized Saturday's workshop.
Scarbrough met Adeyemi about 10 years ago at a 24-hour healing event
that was scheduled one year after the Los Angeles riots.
"Drumming, dancing and singing are all forms of prayer," said
Scarbrough, 57. "And you really do feel a positive vibration when you
participate. The most important thing is that everyone have a good
time."
Adeyemi and Scarbrough will hold a Full Moon Drum Dance
Celebration from 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 3 at the church, 4845 Dunsmore
Ave., La Crescenta. For more information, call (323) 257-8323.
