West African Drumming Workshop for Adults & Teens: Come Out To Play!

Join Jafar Manselle and his performance group for an evening of music, history, and hands on drumming! 

The workshop for Adults and Teens (13+): The teacher (Jafar Manselle) and his performance group will first perform a short set of West African drum rhythms used for village celebrations, followed by a brief talk about the history of the rhythms played, what they mean, and where they come from. He will then demonstrate the basic hand placements used to create the tones that make up the music before handing the drums to registered participants, and they will get to practice making the basic sounds and learning one or two rhythms. All the drums and percussion instruments will be provided; however, if anyone has their own drum, they can feel free to bring it.

About the group: The Wendell Warriors is a performance drum class that was formed seven years ago.  Jafar Manselle is the teacher/leader of the group. Jafar has, over the last 40 years, performed throughout New England, with many Boston based dance troupes such as “Art of Black Dance and Music” and “Uprising Dance Theater”. He has also, over the same time period, taught drumming in the Boston and Cambridge Public Schools for many levels of students from kindergarten to adult classes. He has worked with the Five Colleges as accompanist for African dance classes. Jafar also plays in a Boston-based Jazz band, “The Unexpected," and two reggae bands here in Western MA called “Root Fiyah” and “Adam SZ and The Inner Fiyah."

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Hadley Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.