Weddings here are a big deal.
On Sundays you can drive around and see weddings happening right in the streets and people dressed up going to them.
I got to go with my drummer friends who were hired to play for a pre-wedding party.
Women at the party were dressed up in gorgeous clothes, with henna tatoos for eyebrows and sometimes with designs on their hands and feet too.
I sat with the women and became instant friends (despite our language barrier) with a couple of ladies around my age. The event alternated between singing and drumming. When people at the party sang, it was loud, boisterous singing--telling about the family of those being wed. And when the drummers played, people put money in their mouths.
When the women got up to dance, they would start out going around in a tight circle together. Their feet did small steps in time with the music. Of course I joined them!
Then the circle would open up and some people would go in to the center to do a solo or take a friend and dance together. They would usually giggle and laugh and run back out after a couple of minutes dancing. (I am dancing a solo in one of the photos.)
The picture of Jeremy holding his drum over a fire, is so that he can tune his drum. The heat makes the skin or drum head sound different.
I got to go with my drummer friends who were hired to play for a pre-wedding party.
Women at the party were dressed up in gorgeous clothes, with henna tatoos for eyebrows and sometimes with designs on their hands and feet too.
I sat with the women and became instant friends (despite our language barrier) with a couple of ladies around my age. The event alternated between singing and drumming. When people at the party sang, it was loud, boisterous singing--telling about the family of those being wed. And when the drummers played, people put money in their mouths.
When the women got up to dance, they would start out going around in a tight circle together. Their feet did small steps in time with the music. Of course I joined them!
Then the circle would open up and some people would go in to the center to do a solo or take a friend and dance together. They would usually giggle and laugh and run back out after a couple of minutes dancing. (I am dancing a solo in one of the photos.)
The picture of Jeremy holding his drum over a fire, is so that he can tune his drum. The heat makes the skin or drum head sound different.
The other white guy drumming at the wedding besides Jeremy is Hans. He is from Britain, studying ethnomusicology and staying at Jeremy's too.
1 comment:
Deja, what a wonderful experience for you! Thanks for sharing these great pictures and your new friends with all of us. Looking forward to seeing you when you get home.
Sharon and Larry Zini
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