Collection Africa
Explore a rich tapestry of music, dance, drumming, and theater performances and conversations ranging across a number of countries and regions in Africa.
African Drumming
Learn the history and basics of African drumming
You can’t have African dance without music. The two are inseparable; the dancers are drumming and the drummers are dancing. Learn about two drums—the cajon (cah-HONE) and djembe (JIM-bay) —and how to play a rhythm called Funga (FUN-gah).
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Obo Addy, Master Drummer
Obo Addy, Master Drummer
Who brings Ghanaian culture to the life in Portland, Oregon? West African drummer Obo Addy; that’s who! Mr. Addy is an acclaimed master drummer and composer from Ghana. Mr. Addy brings his musical medicine to the United States with his drumming and dance group Homowo African Arts and Culture. He is committed to sharing his art and culture with young male and female students who might otherwise never get to experience West Africa.
Obo Addy, one of the originators of the seminal musical movement known as "World beat," is a prominent member of the first generation of African musicians to bring their traditional and popular music to Europe and America. An original and respected composer whose music reaches far beyond the boundaries of his land of birth, Addy has a twenty-year presence on the international performing arts scene and has become known for his ability to celebrate past traditions while expanding to embrace new ideas and foreign influences through his music and community outreach work as director of Homowo African Arts and Cultures.
Homowo’s style of music and dance, known as Okropong, comes from Africa’s Ghanaian people. Drumming is passed down from generation to generation in traditional societies. As the group’s master drummer, Obo sets the speed (tempo) of the music. He leads the other musicians and dancers by playing polyrhythms, or many rhythms at once, and pitches for the performers to understand. Each musician plays a single rhythm to form a polyrhythmic whole. On top of this collection of polyrhythms the master drummer improvises additional rhythms to create original compositions for all to share!
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Writer
Kirsten Bodensteiner
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Editor
Lisa Resnick
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Producer
Kenny Neal
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Published
September 6, 2019
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