Destined to play the drum, driven to share it

Here’s what the artists shared with us about making this pack. The following has been translated, edited, and paraphrased slightly for grammatical correctness and flow.

Khadim Gueye said, “I am a drum percussionist. You know, drums belong to griots. Because we were born seeing our parents play, it was passed on to our parents by our forefathers. Our uncles and all our relatives are drummers. It runs in our veins. That is why we prefer playing drums to any other occupation. And playing drums is what we do in music.

Everyone has their destiny. The welder is destined to weld, the farmer is destined to farm. The learner is equally destined to learn. And we are destined to be drummers.

We want to go everywhere with the drum. We want to tour around the world. We want everybody to know about our art, because we have to share it with others. The problem is that so many talented people are unknown and are not shown in the media. Something like this [Splice pack] is important for us to be recorded and filmed for the benefit of people. Playing drums is all we do and we wish to share it.”

Awa Balla (aka Abba) shared, “There is something hidden behind the art of playing drums which is in the blood. As we commonly say: blood is thicker than water, and drumming is something that is uncommon. Before you can play the drums, you have got to be a genius, or else you will not succeed in it. After all the trouble you go to to make a drum, afterward, you need the inspiration to play it. Sometimes playing drums throws us into a hidden universe. Drums are something that drives you crazy before you can know how to use it. This is our art.

When you hear some people playing a drum, you will know that the drum belongs to them. And this studio is the right place; it is something else. We should play the drums in recognition of what was given to us from this studio.”

The musicians who played on this pack gave us an explanation of many of the drums played on this pack:

The nder is the leader of all the sabar drums.
The meungmeung drum is the most commonplace among the sabar.
The Tounguouné is the smallest but it produces the loudest sounds.
Our ancestors used the talmbat drum to chase away the evil spirits.
We use the djembé drum out of curiosity.
The tama is the smallest but it is something else. No one knows where it comes from, it is something which is beyond description. The tama can make anyone dance. That is the drum that makes everyone go crazy, including the big personalities. The galagne is the stick used to play the drum. It is made out of the tamarind tree, a tree loved by the goats. You know that that tree is not ordinary. We can also make it from a tree called nima, we use its leaves to cure many diseases.
We hope you are able to find a home for these special, ancient rhythms.