In Their Own Voices - Transcript

Blamoh: I was 14 years old when I first made my own drum in Liberia. In the village, they have travel groups, and among the travel groups they have plays people come and they have festivals and my mother was a very good dancer. So all the drummers that used to play for her used to be very careful. Because there are so many steps tehy have to do and it's a call and response pattern - the drummer and the dancer, they go together. So as a little boy, my mother used to take me and say to me 'Sit by the drummer and listen to what he plays'. I was dancing by the side of the drums. And I said 'One day I'd like to play drums'. I was between 5 and 6. On day, drummers come from different parts of teh village. Drummers would come around and I was the only little drummer and people enjoy me playing so I said 'OK'. I love to play drums. The communication between the drummer adn dancer is verygood, very nice, you feel it. So when I'm playing the drums, I'm in a different world, believe me.

Blamoh: The best way to go through is to go 'Oh, this is my drum - when I play the drum, I want people to dance and I want to give good voice to the drum'. We say sound but we don't say sound in Africa, we say voice. It can call your name, it can communicate with you. But there are different ways to strike the drum for people to understand what you're saying. Anyone can pick up a drum, put it between their legs and play, but what are you saying? That's the most important thing. It's a lot of work. A lot of work. But if you don't do it - you won't have a good sound. It's like a competition. When drummer sit and you're drum's not sounding good, forget it. Even your dancers, they'll be 'What's going on?'. Because, they are prepared to dance but your drum's not sounding good. Anything you do is power, energy. People from Ivory Coast I will know, their hand position, how many drums they use. The Guinean use more than 10 drums on stage but people from Ivory Coast and Liberia, we can use 3 but the 3 sound like more than 25 people playing. It's because of the correct notation. What to strike. The hand position. That's what you've got to learn. If you don't know your hand position, you don't know nothing. After I'm done with this drum, I'll go and talk to the drum. Tell the drum 'Congratulation'. By doing what? By buying a gin, or red palm oil, rubbing the red palm oil on the surface of the drum, busting an egg on the headof the drum. These are things you say to the drum to say 'Thank you', It is is a character. You see, the change.