Jabba Jabba Jambe is a high energy interactive drumming workshop for drum circles that is performed in schools, youth groups and adults. We were fortunate to welcome Godfred and David Day to DCC recently for a full day workshop for TY students.
David Day is the founder of Jamba Jamba Jambe. He has studied African world drumming for over 20 years in Ireland and with teachers around Europe, the US, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana and West Africa. For over 10 years David has been providing drumming workshops and Drum circle events such as festivals and schools, corporate and community groups.
Drumming circles allows groups to play traditional songs and it creates opportunities for people to experiment with different instruments. It was invented in the 12th century by the Mandinke tribe which is now in Mali in West Africa. It has been played by West Africans for generations and it is part of ritualistic life in countries in Africa.
Each TY group got to experience both traditional African dance and drumming. The day started meeting Godfred and Dave. They explained the activities and we got started on the drumming. We learned about the stories of the jembe (the drums), we learned new rhythms and rhymes to use whilst we hit the drum. It was difficult to stay in time, but it was a lot of fun!
We got to take part in some Traditional African dancing with Godfred. The dancing involved a series of simple repetitive movements, however the group couldn’t miss a step and had to keep time. If a step was missed it would look out of order and we would have to start from scratch! This was a lot of fun!
Everyone enjoyed these activities and got to learn about different traditions in African culture.
By Sophia Latham and Laura Matthews, TY Journalism
Photography by Ava Pender and Hazel McGoey