Amazones: Women Master Drummers of Guinea

Amazones: Women Master Drummers of Guinea
by Sue Katz
EDGE Boston Con= tributor
Monday Mar 5, 2= 007

<= span style=3D'font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#333333'> 3D"Members

<= span class=3Dfooter1>Members of Amazones, the = Women Master Drummers of Guinea.

Ni= ne women play the djembe drums and dance with such inten= se energy that headbands and ankle-beads fly off th= eir bodies. The sell-out crowd Saturday night, March 3rd, at Brandeis’ Spingold Theater Center has never seen such vigorous = bodies or heard such forceful pounding. The Women Master Drummers of Guinea= (visit their webs= ite) are a musical phenomenon - and are changing African cultural history.

In 1996 Mamoudou Conde, an experienced cultural producer, decided that he wanted to create a troupe of women drummers. All three of his initial goals have been met since that tim= e. First, he broke the taboo that had always forbidden the djembe to women. Second, he ensured the continuation of this nuanced narrative drum music by involving women who then pass it on to children. Third, he provide= d a group of poor and vulnerable women with a means to economic independence.

Conde brought together 15 girls from the four different regions of Guinea, rangin= g in age from 16-20. He had to convince the women and their families to be pione= ers. One woman was dumped by her fiancée; one had all her clothes burned = by her family. Two of the women are now married and have children. But none of this stopped the women from training for nine years to become master drumme= rs, taught by the only male djembefola in Guinea wi= lling to teach girls. This musician Aly Sylla, who ended the show with a short but amazing drum solo, is now their artistic and technical director.

The excitement of the show is relentless and the visual= s are integral to the music - from costumes to thumping feet. Instruments unfamil= iar to most of the audience - the balafon and daros= and the secret krin - contribute to pieces, both traditional and original. The final song, named Balakoulandjan (Amazones Women Master Drummers Have Arrived) is an ode of gratitude for all the support th= ey have received.

I spoke during intermission with the founder and managi= ng director, Mamoudou Conde. He proudly told me ab= out their mission "to share the cultural values with children, to help them understand their own culture." The group aims to work with 200,000 kid= s. The Amazones have also been teaching Guinean culture by touring the world. = The first tour was in 2002 to France, the former colonizer of Guinea. That was followed by an American tour in 2004. Now they are touring the whole world = for two years non-stop - from Canada to the Caribbean to New Orleans to Brazil = and on to Europe. They expect to visit 25 African countries in 2008.

Meanwhile, not only have they escaped deprivations and exploitation, the women drummers are seeing the world, earning their econom= ic independence and exciting audiences everywhere. The black women in the Bran= deis audience led the way, dancing in the aisles and clapping to the drumbeat. By the end, a couple dozen people left their seats to gyrate onstage with these compelling women masters.

Sue Katz = has published journalism and been a public speaker on the three continents where she has lived. She used to be most proud of her martial arts career and her world travel, but now it’s all about her heaving cleavage. Visit her = blog - Sue Katz: Consenting Adult at www.suekatz.com
Portrait Photographer: Kevin Cox

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