African Wisdom Djembe S Rhythm Dance To Harmony

Feel the vibrant pulse of West Africa come alive with Djembe's Rhythm! This book is your gateway to the captivating world of djembe drumming, a cornerstone of West African musical expression. Delve into the history and cultural significance of the djembe, exploring its role in rituals, celebrations, and everyday life. Learn about different drumming techniques, from basic patterns to complex rhythms. Discover the profound connection between music and dance, and unleash your inner dancer as you explore the power of rhythmic expression. Djembe's Rhythm is an invitation to experience the joy of creating music, connect with your community, and move your body to the rhythm of life.

Drummer, dancer, and folklorist Sule Greg Wilson introduces the principles behind African and Diaspora music, including breath, posture, and orchestration.

Collected essays exploring the origins and evolution of music and dance in Afro-Atlantic culture

Originally published in hardcover in 1998.

For millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history. Artistic representations reveal that female frame drummers carried the spiritual traditions of many of the earliest recorded civilizations. During those ancient times, the drummer-priestesses held the keys to experience of the divine through rhythm. They were at the center of the goddess worship of matriarchal societies until the ascendance of patriarchal cultures and the loss of drumming as a spiritual technology. With wisdom and passion, Redmond chronicles our species’ deep connection to the drum, our rich heritage of inseparable spirituality and music, and the modern-day women reclaiming it. This book encourages readers—both women and men—to reestablish rhythmic links with themselves, nature, and other people through the power of drumming. Redmond illustrates her message with an extensive collection of images gathered during ten years of research and travel. Woven throughout the book are strands of ancient ritual and mythology, personal stories, and scientific evidence of the benefits of drumming. It is at once a history, a memoir, and a resounding call for spiritual and social renewal.

This comprehensive study of the evolution of Finnish art music from continental predecessors and native folk music traces the development of Sibelius's musical language from his first major work, Kullervo, the first genuine Finnish recitative, to the last tone poem, Tapiola. De Gorog asserts the importance of En Saga, Sibelius's first major, purely orchestral work, as a composition that affirms the composer's belief in both rhythm and in the variation method (the germ motif technique). The impact of folk music on the germ motif technique as well as on melody, phrase construction, and harmony are also analyzed. Although Sibelius's use of rhythm was more restrained than that of Bartok, Stravinsky, or Prokofiev, similarities in basic trends and folk music influences are noted by de Gorog. From Sibelius to Sallinen emphasizes the importance of various aspects of Finnish culture, the historical events that shaped that culture, and Finnish nationalism in the evolution of Finnish music in general. It also delineates the major sources of inspiration for Sibelius's unique musical idiom. The volume clarifies Sibelius's position as founder of Finnish art music and considers the evolution of trends established by him in the works of younger Finnish composers. The first three chapters provide an historical prism through which to view Finnish culture and music, discuss Finnish music prior to Sibelius, and relate Finnish nationalism to the composer's philosophy and music. Chapters 4 through 7 focus on Sibelius, his compositions, and their lasting impact. Two final chapters address instrumental music after Sibelius and stage and vocal music in Finland. A discography provides ready access and full information on the works and completes the volume as an informative resource for students, teachers, researchers, musicologists, and performers as well as a valuable addition to university music libraries and conservatories.

According to Socrates, humans have nothing more to learn because we already know everything we need to know. We have simply forgotten it. A true teacher is one who can help us to remember forgotten knowledge. The great Michelangelo perceived his unique creations in rough and uncultured stone blocks. He said that to see the finished sculpture, one only needs to eliminate the unnecessary particles and debris. Just like these stone blocks, we all possess hidden and forgotten wisdom. To live our true nature, we need to separate ourselves from our limited beliefs and understandings. This is the very essence of the book you have in your hands. “Rhythm Alchemy” is full of insights from ancient times and from our deepest self. The book synthesizes the ancient knowledge of numbers, the heartbeat, the rhythm of breathing and our personal situation within the bigger, universal vibrations, as well as our interactions with people and nature around us. “Rhythm Alchemy” offers invaluable knowledge about ourselves and the unique harmony between the human being, his or her inner world, his or her rhythm and the surrounding reality. We may not realize how often we use musical terms like rhythm, melody and harmony to refer to things which happen to us in our daily lives: the rhythm of our heart, how our feelings soar in space, the melody of our personal inner voice trying to interweave with the harmony of other voices around us. We are constantly seeking and wanting to write the composition of our "happiness". When we compose this work, even though we tirelessly seek inspiration from outside us, our score often stays blank. This is because we do not pay sufficient attention to the true inspiration which lies within us. In order to reach this inspiration, we need to rebuild the bridges linking us to the roots of our true nature – rhythm. When we begin the intimate dance with the vibrations of our existence and begin to experience the real flavor of each wave which colors our emotions, then we will attain the creative power of the composer expressed in what we call “happiness”. Martin Ivanov’s book "Rhythm Alchemy" provides us with the spiritual and physical parameters of our cosmic score. It will guide us to our place in the composition and provide us with the ideas and knowledge we need to participate fully in both – how to compose our life and fulfill our innermost dreams.