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Title: The Drummer's Path: Moving the Spirit With Ritual and Traditional Drumming by Sule Greg C. Wilson, Babatunde Olatunji ISBN: 0-89281-359-8 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: August, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (6 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Women CAN play whatever drum they choose!
Comment: As a woman drummer and drum maker of the past 10 years I was very disappointed by Mr. Wilson's ideas regarding women and drumming. The fact is, women throughout the history of humankind have endured countless hours of back breaking physical labor, many times with an infant strapped to their backs, from gathering firewood to working fields to walking miles just to find and carry home water. Sule, living in a place where most people are not subject to living so close to basic survival has forgotten what his female African ancestors had to endure upon their arrival in this country. His theory that women would "fry their eggs" if they played a conga or a djembe (I play both, as do many professional female percussionists) does not fly since most of us can imagine that the above mentioned forms of labor are much more demanding on anyone's body than playing drums. If his theory were in fact true, it is possible that none of us would be here. Women are not as fragile as most men think we are. Mr. Wilson does have some very good advice on spirit and the flow of energy while drumming. But I enjoyed "When the Drummers were Women" much more!
Rating: 2
Summary: let down
Comment: As someone learning to play drums and interested in African rhythms, I must say that this book was quite a let down. It offers very little useful information on drumming itself, and the ideas it does offer (the 12 principles) are expressed in uninteresting ways, lacking in subtlety. If you're interested in a book that offers insight into the meaning of African drumming, avoid this book and look to John Chernoff's African Rhythm and African Sensibility.
Rating: 5
Summary: African and Diaspora Drumming and their Cultural Context
Comment: This is an excellent book on many different levels. Firstly, Sule Wilson provides an informative and sometimes lyrical introduction to the many different styles of traditional African and Diaspora drumming genres currently popular in the United States. He also raises issues such as spirituality, drumming etiquette, the relation of drummming to dance and song and the thorny issue of gender.
Sule provides some really crucial insights on a number of different technical topics. One example: his discussion of the technique difference between djembe and conga drumming has always struck me as one of the best descriptions/analyses of these two instruments.
This is as much a personal statement by a committed and sincere African American student of percussion as it is a "how-to" kind of book and this is its other great strength. While there are many different strands of opinion and belief within the African-American community on EVERY issue, Sule points out how and why we should all pay attention to the issue of cultural respect when any of us (no matter what race, gender or culture we come from) gets involved with drumming.
There may be minor points of disagreement between Sule and other writers, but in the main, this book thoroughly deserves its status in the drumming community as the one essential introductory book for serious students of the Black percussion arts. (A more musicological approach - also highly recommended- is John Miller Chernoff's wonderful book "African Rhythms and African Sensibility").
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Title: The Healing Drum: African Wisdom Teachings by Yaya Diallo, Mitch Hall ISBN: 0892812567 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: January, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: When the Drummers Were Women : A Spiritual History of Rhythm by Layne Redmond ISBN: 0609801287 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 27 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Healing Power of the Drum by Robert Lawrence Friedman, Shi-Hong Loh ISBN: 0941677877 Publisher: White Cliffs Media Co Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Drummer's Path: African and Diaspora Percussive Music by Sule Greg Wilson, Sunnie Wilson ISBN: 0892815027 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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