African drum ensemble brings rhythm to campus

My interest in African Music started in 1998. In a special occasion, I had an opportunity to hear a professional African Hand-Drumming group in Boston for the first time. I was attracted by their incredible rhythm, and decided to start my study in African Hand-Drumming at that time.

I attended an African drumming class directed by Mr. Alan Tauber from the Drum Connection in Boston. Mr. Tauber inspired me with the sense of rhythm, harmony of drumming and dancing in the African culture. I then realized how great the differences between traditional African music and Western music. The close relationship between African culture and music attracted me to study this area in more depth.

Starting in 1999, I had another incredible experience which was to participate in the WPI African Drumming and Dance Ensemble directed by Mr. Joseph Owusu-Ansah. Owusu-Ansah is a native Ghanaian, and he began drumming at a very early age. He was once the leader of the Omega Seven Cultural Group of Accra in Ghana, and now he is the director of the Adhesives Culture Group of New York City and the WPI African Drumming and Dance Ensemble. The WPI ensemble group gathers every Tuesday night and explores drum and dance from different music from three different Ghanaian tribes.

Owusu-Ansah's teaching approach combined the music and dances that I learned in class with the traditional social and cultural settings. Every dance and rhythm that he introduces relates to a particular event or rite practiced these African tribes. Instead of blindly playing the rhythm, the class is presented with an opportunity to appreciate the amazing African cultural and musical environments in which these music "live."