A couple of months ago I started learning Djembe drumming. It takes a lot of concentration, but is very rewarding. My hands are starting to get tougher now, and the bleeding has stopped (only joking). Africa is a place I have never been, but surely wish to go and see how our imitation of their ancient drumming is in comparison. Sometimes it feels a bit strange drumming beats to cultural ceremonies that have nothing to do with my life, just learning someone else's code for celebration. I guess it is practice.
Today in the class I saw two students with their legs casually draped over the drums, and wondered if the drums were considered sacred like other cultures revered instruments. In India the drums are regarded with folded hands and mantras before the musician plays them. Respects are shown to teacher and instrument. Curious to find out more about djembe tradition and background I looked at;
http://www.african-music-safari.com/djembe-history.html
Most Westerners are unaware of the depth, traditional use and purpose of the drum because djembe history is hardly documented. Only few are interested to research on their own. Instead, some foreign visitors to Africa even try to show Africans how the djembe is supposed to be played.
Sure enough Westerners (including myself) sometimes neglect to understand the who, what, where, when and how of ancient village life. When I am drumming I feel like I am part of a small village of people, but I don't really know the other students' names and when the session is over, we just all go our separate ways without so much as a goodbye, except maybe to the teachers, who are very friendly. I sit next to, or as near as possible to my teacher because my extreme right brain does not do well with opposites. If I sit opposite I can't work out which hand to use for the beats. When I sit alongside the teacher I can watch his hands and get it right. It is a bit of a fear curer as well because he has to listen to my mistakes (ouch!) and I have to concentrate extremely hard when he plays amazing solos when we are drumming our groove beat. All in a morning of learning.
What next? Drumming for therapy; my own and others, and drumming in kirtan yoga.
Caio for now
Taraka
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
For seekers.
Today is a special day for Hindus, Vaisnavas and other spiritualists in India, who like Krishna. It is the celebration of his birthday today. Long ago in another era, calculated to be around 5000 years ago, Krishna came in the guise of a human child as the son of a great king (Vasudeva) and his wife, (Devaki). Sadly they had been imprisoned by Devaki's brother, Kamsa (just by the sound of his name there is an evil twang) who had heard an omen about this particular child's birth. The omen rang out in the sky, that this son would be the one to kill him. He had not been a nice ruler, so he was nervous about his karma coming to visit him. Krishna's six other brothers had been killed at birth by this evil uncle, except one who was mystically transferred to the womb of another wife.
India is a country of tradition and culture that is often very different, even upside down to the Western perspective. On birthdays (and weddings) in India, it was the custom to give a feast and presents to others, and on Krishna's birthday all the presents and palatable dishes go to him. When Christmas is celebrated presents are exchanged between family members and friends, but it was Jesus' birthday, not our own. In temples gifts of foodstuffs, flowers, spectacular silk cloth, money, jewellery, milk and other dairy products are lavishly presented to the deity or statue-like form of Krishna. The priests in the temples cook great preparations for Krishna and offer them with loving prayers, all the while fasting until midnight, when it was recorded that Krishna was born. At midnight there is a great song and dance with ancient mantras and very enthusiastic participation, although the devout have been denying themselves food, and drink all day. It is called, 'self abnegation' or giving up things for a higher cause. So even though might be pretty hungry, the devotees are really happy.
So anyone seeking a high of a different kind, self-abnegation is a way. The yogis have been doing it for thousands of years, and most religious traditions see it as a way of controlling the senses and mind. It is done with the idea of pleasing another, the divine, and it is done with regulation and in goodness, not like starving oneself for beauty or a political cause. Much to be said on the matter.
Krishna's birthday is certainly a great way to engage with other spiritual seekers and often at temples around the world elaborate preparations have been made to decorate and make the mood of Vrindavan where Krishna was carried by his father on the evening of his birth. The story goes that in the night when Krishna was born, his mother and father didn't want the evil uncle to kill yet another of Devaki's babies, so Vasudeva, Krishna's father snuck out of the prison with the tiny infant to Vrindavan to his family. Yashoda had just given birth to a baby girl and somehow or other, the babies were swapped, and Krishna stayed in Vrindavan and the small girl went back to the prison in Mathura. When Kamsa heard that baby was born, meant to kill him he took her roughly and tried to dash her to the ground, even though she was a girl, not the predicted boy. She gave Kamsa a few things to think about however, and mystically, after turning into the dramatic, fearful and devastating form of Durga devi, she disappeared.
Never a dull moment in the life of Krishna and his associates.
So have a great day, when you read this, and think of the blue boy for a few moments, wondering what it would be like to be one of his friends.
India is a country of tradition and culture that is often very different, even upside down to the Western perspective. On birthdays (and weddings) in India, it was the custom to give a feast and presents to others, and on Krishna's birthday all the presents and palatable dishes go to him. When Christmas is celebrated presents are exchanged between family members and friends, but it was Jesus' birthday, not our own. In temples gifts of foodstuffs, flowers, spectacular silk cloth, money, jewellery, milk and other dairy products are lavishly presented to the deity or statue-like form of Krishna. The priests in the temples cook great preparations for Krishna and offer them with loving prayers, all the while fasting until midnight, when it was recorded that Krishna was born. At midnight there is a great song and dance with ancient mantras and very enthusiastic participation, although the devout have been denying themselves food, and drink all day. It is called, 'self abnegation' or giving up things for a higher cause. So even though might be pretty hungry, the devotees are really happy.
So anyone seeking a high of a different kind, self-abnegation is a way. The yogis have been doing it for thousands of years, and most religious traditions see it as a way of controlling the senses and mind. It is done with the idea of pleasing another, the divine, and it is done with regulation and in goodness, not like starving oneself for beauty or a political cause. Much to be said on the matter.
Krishna's birthday is certainly a great way to engage with other spiritual seekers and often at temples around the world elaborate preparations have been made to decorate and make the mood of Vrindavan where Krishna was carried by his father on the evening of his birth. The story goes that in the night when Krishna was born, his mother and father didn't want the evil uncle to kill yet another of Devaki's babies, so Vasudeva, Krishna's father snuck out of the prison with the tiny infant to Vrindavan to his family. Yashoda had just given birth to a baby girl and somehow or other, the babies were swapped, and Krishna stayed in Vrindavan and the small girl went back to the prison in Mathura. When Kamsa heard that baby was born, meant to kill him he took her roughly and tried to dash her to the ground, even though she was a girl, not the predicted boy. She gave Kamsa a few things to think about however, and mystically, after turning into the dramatic, fearful and devastating form of Durga devi, she disappeared.
Never a dull moment in the life of Krishna and his associates.
So have a great day, when you read this, and think of the blue boy for a few moments, wondering what it would be like to be one of his friends.
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