They say:

Happy New Year! To brighten these dark days, remember that Spring is coming, and with it, the 19th annual World Rhythm Festival, April 27th – 29th, 2012.

Exuberant music from all over the world will spring forth at Seattle Center in over 100 amazing drum and dance workshops and world music performances. This is the DON’T MISS event of spring, where you can learn about rhythm and dance in a joyful community atmosphere.

Artists:
It’s time to submit your application to give a performance or workshop on the SWPS.org website if you haven’t done so already. Go to the application page at http://swps.org/swps?page=artistapppage. Application deadline is February 1st. See the end of this message for login help.

Know a world music Artist or Teacher who deserves a bigger audience?
We are always looking for new performers and workshop leaders. If you know of a hot instructor or performing group that you’d like to see at the Festival, please forward this email to them. Or write to us at (Artists at swps.org) and tell us about them!

We look forward to working with you to make the 2012 World Rhythm Festival another memorable event!

Here’s the result:

The Mixtape Special by Afropop Worldwide

Whether you wonder about whether global interest in djembe is declining or not, djembe, dunun and even some traditional dance moves made it’s way onto American idol this year.

Though not everyone was impressed, perhaps a tip of the hat in the right direction, or even a mention of what them things were that those guys were banging on, might have pushed those search numbers up a little?

I just hope that Remo didn’t get a mention in the show credits.

It feels to me that this year has been one for a bit of controversy, there have been disagreements between drum producers and exporters from Africa and Indonesia, but at least people began to talk about the effects of the djembe industry on the environment.

Most seem to agree that djembe’s themselves are a very small cause of deforestation compared to other industries, such as wood export and furniture. A lot of criticism has indeed been levelled at China for wiping huge quantities of wood in Guinea, before regulations were reviewed which brought an end to this.

China’s response? Stone djembes, which I’ve heard from several people actually sound quite good (considering they’re made of stone).

Tam Tam Mandeng certification has been discussed before, but earlier this year the association caused a stir, when they announced their intention to release a Tam Tam Mandeng grading system, for students who are studying with Tam Tam Mandeng’s instructors.

It doesn’t seem like participation will be compulsory and the details haven’t been hammered out yet, so it’s perhaps to early to read too much into it. Indeed I know highly respected people who think that this is a good idea, and I can understand how it would motivate some ‘goal oriented’ people in a positive way.

It will be interesting to see how this is organised and begins to manifest in 2012.

For me it though, it was perhaps 2 of the greatest living djembefolas, who were at the heart of the most memorable moment of the year.

Mamady Keita and Famoudou Konate finally managed to pull off something they had wanted to do for a long time. A sell out tour of the US, teaching side by side, sharing their love and their philosophy and experience of this music to a few lucky students.

Their message:

The djembe is the symbol of joy and that between djembefolas you must have repect, and not be jealous of each other.

Here’s a full transcript of that message.

I really feel like there is a lot of escalating energy in the djembe world at the moment, and I can’t wait to see what next year will bring. We definitely have a number of exciting projects here at djembefola.com that are going to blossom this year, so if you’re not already signed up to our newsletter yet, make sure you do so now, to get the latest articles / videos and news first.

This is just my take on what have been memorable this year. What did I miss? Do you have enduring memories or experiences you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments!

PS: Special thanks to Bernd (who shares the djembe in Arizona) for the use of his awesome photo. You can see more of Bernd’s work on his Fine art photography website.

You can find more information about taking part in the Olympics here.

Here’s the application form, but be aware you should be a resident of the UK and be available for a number of rehearsals, check the website for details.

The djembe is the symbol of joy

As many of you know the Grand Master’s Tour has just finished up.

Here’s a great message from Mamady and Famoudou.

Here’s a transcription:

This tour that we are now finishing, is a tour that I have dreamed of for years.

Why have we done this tour?

It’s to show between djembefolas you must have repect not jealously. It’s not a competition.

If you give a djembe to your student, they can do the phrases you can do.

So we’re here to show the djembefolas of the world, not to create competition, but to create repect.

Because if the 2 of us create competition between us, then all the djembefolas that follow us, will make a war amonst themselves. Especially the young.

So we are creating an example for the young people, a good example.

In addition to this, I would like to say, in the name of my big brother, thank you for being here.

Don’t think of yourselves as white. Think of yourselves as doing the same mission as us.

What is that mission?

To preserve and protect the tradition of Mandeng.

And to protect tradition all over the world, and we must respect it.

..and our mission and your misssion is freedom and tollerance. To have good spirit, to be open.

To show that colour doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist. What really matters is spirit.

Let the politicians create the borders, but us the people, we will remove the borders from our hearts.

We’ll come together and work together, we’ll come together and dance together. We’ll play together, we’ll celebrate togehers. The djembe is the symbol of joy.

My big brother and I are going to do a demonstratrion. Just to say thank you very much for being here.

…and to say that we love you from the bottom of our hearts.

Hey djembefolas

I’m really excited to announce the launch of a really exciting project that has been in the pipeline for years (literally):
Tasumakan – The sound of Fire, is the latest way to learn djembe drumming online.

It is a collaboration between djembefola.com and Tasuma Productions (aka our very own Bops of Wadoma fame).
You can now buy the first Rhythm of the series, Tansole, right now.

As a way of saying thank you we are giving away a free “review copy” away to one lucky person (drawn at random) every day on the forum from Friday the 8th until Tuesday the 12th of July.

All you have to do is come and say hi in this thread on Friday and make sure you have Introduced yourself.
The idea of a review copy is that you tell us what you think. There’s of course no way to enforce that, but …. meh…. we’ll see what happens

We are also giving away a copy to 5 lucky people who come like my “Tasumakan” post on the djembefola.com facebook by Friday

If you want to support djembefola.com, this your opportunity – we’d love any help you can give us to spread the work!
Liking on Facebook is the easiest or why not forward this to a friend.

I genuinely think these are top quality training videos and they would help most beginner to high advanced intermediate players become better drummers.

Find out more about Tasumakan here.

Thanks for your support.
James and Paddy

Spotify isn’t available in all countries, but I highly recommend it if it is available to you. I love it.

Here’s a play list I put together to show what’s available:

Djembe playlist

Here’s an African Music playlist (mostly West African):

African music playlist

13th January, Scala, London

14th January, Band on the Wall, Manchester

15th January, Celtic Connections (Old Fruitmarket), Glasgow

Cheikh’s latest album ‘Jamm’ has been hailed by many critics as his best album yet:

#1 in World Music Chart Europe

#2 in Official UK World Music Album Chart

In Songlines Top 10 Albums of 2010

In fROOTS Top 10 Albums of 2010

“Reconfirms his position as one of the finest, most soulful singers in West Africa.” The Guardian ****

“never loses its groove. Classy stuff.” The Observer

“Senegal mystic in blistering form. African album of the year?” Uncut****

“Senegal’s premier pan-African always comes up with the goods.” MOJO****

For more information on Cheikh, including exclusive videos, image gallery, album artwork, tour dates and more visit www.cheikhlo.com