Writer:  JUSTIN HOPPER

When Elie Kihonia talks of the drum, it’s with the enthusiasm and partisanship one might expect from a freshly recruited, chest-thumping disciple.

"No one is excluded from the drum," says Kihonia. "That’s part of the tradition -- everyone has that beat inside of them. It’s about how your heartbeat works, how your body works. There’s a beat inside of you, and when you play it, and feel the connection with that beat inside that you don’t ever pay attention to, drums remind you that you’re living, that you’re existing."

But Kihonia is far from a recent convert. Fifteen years after moving to Pittsburgh, the Congo-born drummer approaches both his music and his adopted city with that rare combination of relentless drive, talent and belief. As the latest stage of a career that includes helping found both Umoja and his current organization, Afrika Yetu, Kihonia has banded together with the disparate members of Pittsburgh’s percussion and drumming communities to organize Drumtalk 2005. Held this weekend at the University of Pittsburgh, it’s part symposium, part performance, part community gathering and, to hear Kihonia describe it, part showcase.

For more than 15 years, Kihonia argues, Pittsburgh has had a world-class range of African-influenced drumming performers and researchers -- from drummers such as Cecil Washington and George Jones, to seminal scholars such as Dr. John Chernoff and professor J.H. Kwabena Nketia, to Rusted Root’s mainstreaming of African rhythm. Yet rarely has the city’s prominence been acknowledged here.

"A lot of places maybe had the artists but not the scholars," says Kihonia. "But we really had both and were able to contribute greatly internationally, and we didn’t do ourselves any favors by not speaking up -- by not [bragging] about it. A lot of these groups [and individuals] went their own ways, and nobody took the leadership to say, ‘Hey, this is history-making here!’"

For Drumtalk 2005, Afrika Yetu has gathered together some of the best percussionists in the city to perform, teach and exchange ideas on drumming. Besides long-time staples of the African music community such as Kihonia and Pitt African Drum Ensemble Director Anicet Mundundu, seminar leaders and performers include Dr. Chernoff, whose African Rhythm and Sensibility is considered an essential text on the subject, and Tim Adams, head of CMU’s percussion department and principal timpanist for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Adams’ profile in Pittsburgh may be as a classical instrumentalist, but his interests lie in a broader spectrum of percussion.

"[My role] is in contemporary percussion," says Adams, "in taking that African traditional rhythm and putting it into contemporary music. In my compositions, I’ll take a djembe [hand drum] and pair it with a cello, or I’ll perform in an improvisational setting, and play an African drum through digital delay, improvising the piece against the delay speed to make chords, give it a kind of drum-and-bass feel."

CMU faculty member Tina Blaine will be on hand to teach an introduction to Middle Eastern drumming, but like Adams, she is perhaps better known for a very different project. Blaine is responsible for "Jam-O-Drum," an electronic project that uses drum pads and visual projections to "make collective musical experiences available to novices." Inclusiveness is a theme of Drumtalk, and an important aspect of drumming in general to Drumtalk instructor (and Rusted Root percussionist) Jim Donovan.

"My ‘Rhythmic Motivation’ is a basic hand-drumming course -- learning to play in a group, cooperation without competition. The ‘Rhythmic Mantra’ is a repetitious vocal [drum] toning to achieve relaxation -- it’s designed so that an absolute beginner or a 20-year player will get something out of it."

Though Drumtalk’s purposes are educational and participatory to a fault -- even the evening group performances will include a drum for every audience member -- Donovan sees another purpose, at least for the drummers. It’s an opportunity to bring to town Mamady Keita, one of African drumming’s most influential names and a man responsible for spreading the gospel of African music to Europe and America from the late ’80s on.

"He’s one of the premiere djembe players and teachers in the world," says Donovan. "If there were one person on the planet who epitomizes the djembe, it’s Mamady Keita."

To Kihonia, however, Drumtalk 2005 is about Pittsburgh learning about the world -- and about the world within our city.

"People are going to learn more than just African drumming -- I think they’ll learn about Pittsburgh’s participation in world music," says Kihonia. "Our groups -- Umoja, Rusted Root, Afrika Yetu -- they’ve gone on to become amongst the world elite. Tim Adams, Tina Blaine, Dr. Chernoff -- these are the top people [in their fields], and they’re your neighbors.

"It’s also, most importantly, a way to bring the community together. The drum is the only universal instrument, the only one we all share in our backgrounds, and as the world is split more and more apart, it’s an instrument that can bring us together."

Click here to view this story on the Pittsburgh City Paper website.

Tina Blaine (left) and Anicet Mundundu

Sidney L. Davis/Tribune-Review

Symposium seeks to translate languages of drums

By Michael Machosky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 24, 2005


If music is truly the international language, then the drums would have to be among its most lucid and easily understood speakers.

But just banging on a hollow, resonant object isn't enough -- there are almost as many languages of rhythm as there are languages of words.

Calling the drumming tribes of the world together, Pittsburgh's Afrika Yetu Master Drummers are hosting a drum summit this weekend, to exchange and spread the unique knowledge of some of the world's elite drummers.

"It's history in the making," says Afrika Yetu and UMOJA African Arts Company founder Elie Kihonia. "Drumming is really a tool for uniting people."

Kihonia, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, realized that some of the world's most renowned drummers live in Pittsburgh, or have Pittsburgh connections.

"Back in '89, when I first arrived, there was not even a single drum called djembe in the city. Today, it's so popular, you can even find it at Kmart," Kihonia says. "A lot of people in Pittsburgh have been there since the beginning, when drumming was not as popular as it is today. Unfortunately, no one really has taken this to another level -- to raise the profile of all this drumming talent."

The symposium will feature Anicet Mundundu, from the Pitt African Drumming Ensemble and Tim Adams from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Of course, there's Drum! Magazine columnist and Rusted Root star Jim Donovan. There's also Tina Blaine, who has recorded with Brian Eno and Mickey Hart, and is a professor of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. And there's Dr. John Chernoff, who's written one of the definitive textbooks on West African drumming, which is used all over the world.

They also have invited international superstar Mamady Keita -- founder of Tam Tam Mandingue International Drum School, now in 18 countries.

Drummers of all skill levels are invited to sign up for classes like "Congolese Drumming (Ngoma and Congo)," taught by Kihonia, and "Intro to Middle Eastern Drumming," by Tina Blaine.

The nightly performances will be interactive. That means everybody who comes gets a drum to use. But if you've got your own drum, you're encouraged to bring it.

"First of all, our goal is to have people go back deep inside themselves," Kihonia says. "Realize that you have a heart, which is like a drum. When you play boom, boom, boom, you're reminded of your heart's existence. It'll be a chance for us, the artists, and the audience, to feel connected."

Michael Machosky can be reached at mmachosky@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7901.

Click here to view this story on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review website.

Elie Kihonia of Afrika Yetu

Sidney L. Davis/Tribune-Review

Scenes from Arts-burgh

From staff reports
Tuesday, March 1, 2005


Offerings from Pittsburgh's cultural arts and entertainment events:

'DrumTalk'

Pitt's campus can be a daunting labyrinth of nearly Himalayan foothills, scarce parking and everything confusingly named Katz this or Frick that. But this is one event that I didn't have any trouble finding.

Following the beats of congas, djembes and other assorted African drums to Bellefield Hall was easy. The Saturday evening performance for Afrika Yetu's "DrumTalk 2005 International Percussion Symposium" was just getting under way -- capping off a day of intensive drum instruction from some of the top drummers in the world, from West African drum legend Mamady Keita to Rusted Root's Jim Donovan to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Tim Adams.

Most in the crowd had their own drums and were, at various points, urged to respond in a communal, call-and-response sort of way. This was fun, although the master drummers onstage seemed to get a little frustrated that the crowd couldn't follow some of the more complex rhythms they laid down.

The undisputed highlight was Keita's solo djembe performance -- an impassioned rhythmic communication encompassing the tiniest finger taps and the most rapid-fire polyrhythms. But this work of subtlety and passion was upstaged by the finale, when a giant, black-masked dancer on stilts entered, dancing vigorously.

The little kid sitting behind us who had been jabbering happily the whole time burst into tears and leaped into his mother's lap. They had to take him outside.

-- Michael Machosky

Click here to read the full story on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review website.

Friday, February 04, 2005
By Jane Vranish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


The roots of rock 'n' roll can be found in the gyrations of the Godfather of Soul, but even James Brown had to look over his shoulder for inspiration from the vast landscape that is Africa.

Add Eminem, Puff Daddy, Al Green and Dizzy Gillespie -- from gospel to jazz, rock to hip-hop, reggae to rap. Virtually nothing in pop music and dance has been left untouched by Africa's influence.

It's a connection that spans generations, one that Elie Kihonia hopes to capture with "Afrika Shout!," a collaborative performance this weekend between members of Wacongo Dance Company, the performing wing of umbrella organization Afrika Yetu, and 40 students from Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Designed for a family audience, Kihonia wanted to use "Afrika Shout!" to create a dialogue between parents and their children as part of Black History Month. Beginning last October with a series of workshops, he immediately set a tone that Africa contains "a culture for everyone, both black and white students."

They began by studying the continent of Africa, before moving on to the beat, understandably its rhythmic core. The rhythm turned into movement, from the agile, airborne steps of Djembe in the west, to the crouched acrobatics of Libanda in central Africa, the boot-stomping Gumboot dances in the southern mines, belly-dancing in the north and the jumping and intricate footwork of the Masai in the east.

The students learned the costumes worn by African people can be compared to American styles, as contemporary as Calvin Klein clothes and MAC makeup. Africans, in the name of beauty, adorn their faces with powder from the earth and extend their earlobes through piercing.

Everything the students learned will be condensed into a journey during "Afrika Shout!," where the students will learn and perform the music and dance on stage.

Then they'll spark the connection. The Libanda will become breakdancing. Gumshoe will become tap. And parents and their children will have the fuel to "create conversation and a sense of understanding," says Kihonia. "Whether the modern, old or ancient school -- it's all the same."

(Jane Vranish can be reached at jvranish@post-gazette.com. )

Click here to read the article on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website.