World Rhythm Percussion Jammer 10" Djembe 120€

World Rhythm Percussion on perkussiosoitinmerkki jota on mukava edustaa – soittimet valmistaan ympäri maailmaa paikallisten käsityöläisten toimesta ja Iso-Britanniassa sijaitseva pääkonttori huolehtii että kaikki tapahtuu Reilun Kaupan säädösten mukaan. Lisäksi WRP pitää huolta, että kaikki materiaalit ovat uusiutuvia ja ei-uhanalaisia.

World Rhythm Percussion voitti Music Industries Associationin Music Awards 2009 -tilaisuudessa “Best Export Innovation” -palkinnon. Ei mikään ihme, sen verran hyvä djempaus on kysessä!

KLIKKAA LISÄTIETOA!

Soittimet ovat kokonaan käsin tehtyja ja erittäin korkealuokkaisia. Alla valikoimaa ja hintoja! Tilaustavaraa joten ota yhteyttä etukäteen. HUOM! Kysy tarjoushintaa jos tarvitset suuremman määrän kerralla.

Jammer 4" djembe 24€

Jammer 5" djembe 39€

Jammer 7" Swirl natural djembe 63€

Jammer 8" Tribal djembe 72€

Jammer 10" Swirl Black djembe 120€

Jammer 12" Rough Bark djembe 180€

Pro Africa Ghana 13" 277€

Pro Africa Senegal 13" 277€

4 januari start een nieuwe groep beginners voor percussie.

Schrijf in en leer nieuwe instrumenten spelen van over de hele wereld.

De lessen worden gegeven in groepsverband.

Je leert de basisslagen en daarmee bouwen we verschillende ritmes op.

Alle Eindhovenaren die zin hebben om eens een instrument te leren spelen zijn welkom. De eerste les is een gratis proefles.

werk aan:

• leren luisteren naar muziek.

• Coordinatie verbeteren.

• ritmisch inzicht krijgen

• Fysieke inspanning

Locatie in Eindhoven: Doornakkerstraat 16c (Tongelre)

De cursus zal doorgaan op maandagavond. (18u)

Schrijf in door een comment achter te laten.

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The phone is ringing, I have a small boy hanging off my leg and a baby girl balanced on my hip.
“hello, It’s Maureen from the school, just checking you are still coming to the induction meeting tomorrow?”

Well I’ll spare you the details, but after a long and complicated conversation we established a letter was sent, but it did not make it to me, explaining Alpha has a place at nursery to start on January 26th every morning and there was a meeting for new parents, could we come childless!!! and bring child’s birth certificate….

They said I could take the children along if I had to, but it would be better if I didn’t… after a few panicked phone calls to mum and MIL (Mum in Law) I established children would have to come with me and that was that…. so after getting up early the following day and making sure everybody didn’t look too scruffy, and then struggle through the pouring rain to school…. (this is tricky as two year olds are magnetically drawn to puddles especially when not wearing wellies) we finally arrive at school.

Birth Certificate forgotten….. Weetabix encrusted on my shoe and in Alpha’s hair….not too bad??

I am not the only parent with children in tow… phew, there are 2 other children, a baby, and a little girl must be about Alpha’s age. so we are offered tea and given some toys to play with while we wait….
3 pushchairs in the room, 2 are pristine with smart changing bags hanging off the back, one looks like it is packed to cross the Sahara and by the state of it probably has at some point it has an interesting selection of crisps, leaves, mud, and possibly vomit ground into it and is dripping and steaming slowly in the corner… guess which one is mine??

So the Head Master does a little intro speech to us all… the other children sit quietly with their mum’s mine do not!

Alpha manage to get wedged under the lady next to mes’ chair, I try and extract him while she gives me a forced smile and I try and look like I am listening to the head master… then the baby starts to copy the head master talking (I think it’s a conspiracy) “Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah” The head master stops talking and looks at her and smiles, she stops shouting Blah and stares at him blankly, he starts talking again and so does she……

After we have been given lots of bits of paper and signed a million things we head off into the class rooms to be shown round, they had hidden the children away in the corner so we can see round, Alpha gets stuck right in, picks up a Djembe (African Drum) and heads over to the corner where the children are quietly sat watching TV, I am talking to one of the teachers and turn round to see them all manically dancing with Alpha at the front of the class playing the drum…… Oh my boy, you are a character and very hard work, but you don’t half give me some funny stories to tell!!

III Jornadas Culturales
9 al 15 de Noviembre de 2009

Sábado 14 de noviembre
15 hs. Afro Reggae: taller gratuito de percusión y charla sobre trabajo social con cultura afro en barrios suburbanos de Río de Janeiro (se pide llevar instrumento, cupo limitado – inscripción avisos@revistaquilombo.com.ar)
17 hs. Historia de la invisibilización afro en las puertas del Bicentenario.
18 hs. “Visibles”, proyección de imágenes sobre la historia de los afrodescendientes.
Lugar: Casa de la música, México 564 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Domingo 15 de noviembre
14.30 hs. Ceremonia de tambores: desde 9 de Julio y Av. de Mayo, llegando a Plaza de Mayo, desfilan: Ala afroargentina: La Chilinga, Ala afrobrasilera: Me leva que eu vou, Ala afroboliviana: Caporales, Ala murgas: Pasión Quemera e Inevitables de Flores, Ala afrouruguaya: La Candela de San Telmo, Ala africana: Tambores de Senegal y Ala afroperuana: Estampas Peruanas.
18 hs. Plaza de Mayo presentación de escenario de los grupos: Ariel Prat y Afro Reggae.

Hasta el 21 de Diciembre – Muestra de la artista plástica Gabriela Perez “Identidades afroargentinas” arte afroargentina en la Embajada de Brasil. Lugar: Foyer de la Embajada de Brasil, Cerrito 1350 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires.

En consonancia con las políticas de visibilización de la comunidad afroargentina, el Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, el Racismo y la Xenofobia (INADI), desarrollará entre el 9 y el 15 de noviembre las III Jornadas Culturales “Argentina también es afro”. Las mismas, -que se realizan con la colaboración de la Embajada de Brasil en Argentina, el apoyo del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y del Instituto Sangari Argentina-, contarán con distintas actividades culturales (muestra de plástica, mesas debate, cine, ceremonia de tambores y recitales al aire libre) como modo de aportar al debate en el marco del Bicentenario.

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, January 23rd. Michael Markus is coming up from NYC to lead two workshops at The Studio @ Billings Forge, 563 Broad Street, Hartford, CT.

People travel from all over the country and Canada to study with him at various drum camps, workshops and performances. He is a phenomenal drummer and one of the most gifted teachers around. Many of the great drummers in the state (and East Coast) who are leading workshops, performing, and teaching djembe have studied with Michael. This will be a great reunion for some, and a chance to experience a really gifted teacher for others. Beginners are welcome.

He will teach two workshops — take one or take them both. From 1:00 to 3:00 pm: all level drum class. From 3:00 to 5:00 pm: all level introduction to improvising on the Djembe. Each class costs $25.00, but if you take both classes the cost is reduced to $40.00.

The attached flyer gives detailed information about the drum classes. Please print out some flyers and pass this information along to all the drummers in your local communities. The space the workshops will be held is an artistic studio that is emerging as one of the hippest art scenes in Hartford. The Studio@Billings Forge is right off the highway and it’s worth checking out.

Preregistration is welcome, or pay at the event; please call Rick at 1-860-818-2966 with any questions. For more details, click here to see the PDF flyer.

View Larger Map

We were informed last night that our “Hold the Ground” EP is currently #1 on Fantalk Radio’s Top 200 Chart!

We are pumped beyond belief about this and want to thank everyone who listened and called in during our live performance/interview last Saturday night and who have continued to call into the station to request us.  

If you want to hear the the entire acoustic set/interview, you can stream it on FanTalk Radio’s Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/fantalk

If you scroll down the page, the segment can be found on the right hand side in the “Podmatic” podcast player.  Just click on the on the one with the picture of the dumb idiots flexing… That’s us…

Thank you, and we hope you enjoy listening to the performance as much as we enjoyed putting it on!

Tomorrow night (11/7), Await Rescue will be featured as Fantalk Radio’s musical guest for the evening. We’ll be playing seldom heard acoustic renditions of songs off both our self-titled release in 2008 and our 2009 EP “Hold the Ground”

Fantalk Radio is a 2 hour program (8-10pm) based out of Portsmouth, NH and will feature both musical performances by the band as well as discussion about the band, our music and what’s on the horizon for us! 

Don’t miss this show! 

If you’re in the Portsmouth NH area you can tune in and listen on 106.1 FM, if not THE SHOW CAN BE STREAMED AT WWW.WSCAFM.ORG!

Gosta de música ao vivo e instrumental?
Aproveite essas dicas para o mês de novembro!
Além da nova Oficina que o Sesi Leopoldina – SP está promovendo!

Ao Vivo Music

Ao Vivo Music
E-mail: info@aovivomusic.com.br
Endereço: Rua Inhambu, 229, Moema – São Paulo – SP
Tel.: (11) 5052-0072
Horário de Funcionamento: de Segunda à Sábado, das 19h as 02h.
www.aovivomusic.com.br

A oficina proporciona aos participantes o conhecimento dos sons e das técnicas de instrumentos de percussão como Berimbau, djembe, pandeiro, agogô e tamborim, além da execução de ritmos brasileiros como maracatu, samba, capoeira e baião. Serão desenvolvidas técnicas para tocar com as mãos e com baquetas, noções,  exercícios de ritmíca, divisão de compassos, altura e notas musicais.

De 9 a 19 de Novembro | das 14h às 18h
20 vagas | Público alvo: pessoas acima de 12 anos
Incrições antecipadas | Entrada Gratuita

Centro Cultural: Sesi Vila Leopoldina
Endereço: Rua Carlos Weber, 835 – Vl Leopoldina – São Paulo – SP
Tel.: 3834-5523
www.sesisp.org.br/leopoldina/centrocultural

image by Lorenzo Marvulli

I am instantly drawn to the friendly bearded face of Sam Taylor and scarlet-haired Hannah Richardson on the balcony at Bristol’s Watershed.  Their welcome is shy, but inviting as they appear as pleased to be making my acquaintance as I am to be making theirs.  Although I haven’t seen them on stage yet, I am instantly fond of these two as personalities and particularly to Sam’s crimson, crushed-velvet blazer.  However, I keep this little truth-nugget to myself as I’d never be able to wear it with the same ease and nonchalance.  Adelaide’s Cape have been writing and playing together since 2006, and specialise in acoustic and folk music with variations in percussive accompaniment, but that’s just fact and I want juice.

I press record, take a sip of tonic water and Sam tells me that although he originated from Scotland in an accent that has received a remoulding of sorts, he has been in Norwich for the past eight years.  Since Adelaide’s Cape’s conception when they were still at school, the duo have undergone many changes in dynamics and stage appearance with Sam and Hannah standing their ground as the two constant members.  I instantly want to know how they manage to generate and sustain a presence in Norwich, London and now Bristol, the “Spacious Triangle” as I put it. As it happens, the two now live and study full-time in neighbouring Bath.  Trains.  Trains, trains, trains.  Two hours later, laden with bulky and occasionally heavy instruments, they’re doing what they do best on another patch of turf.  It’s all too common to meet bands who start out concentrating and end up stagnating in the locality.  These two, doing it for themselves, seem comfortable with their life choices and are content with the results.

Having listened to their recordings on the myspace page (insert link), more than two instruments are sounding so I’m keen to know who is making all the ruckus.  Although Sam is a keen guitarist and vocalist and Hannah a trained percussionist with an assortment of celtic and tribal influences, they speak highly of a long list of collaborators who continue to make their way in the music industry in different parts of the country.  The duo tell of plans to recruit Hannah’s new housemate as bassist and Sam’s mate on accordian.  It’s all go, go, go, and with the Oxjam festival in Norwich, immediately followed by a recording sesh to nail the EP, Sam continues and tells me that the forthcoming Christmas period is going to be particularly busy with a tall order of gigs in London along with a recording session for the BBC.  Although, in his exicted state, the initials BBC trip over his tongue sounding like “Cbeebies” and I question their intended demographic.  A shared cachinnation later, and it turns out that they write and perform for all manner of human people and everything else.

I put a couple of influences to them to gauge their reactions and Nick Drake strikes a particular chord.  They both laugh as they frequently hear such post-gig comparisons.  I also venture a similarity in Sam’s voice to a young Damien Rice, and he isn’t at all offended so we move on.  A natural departure from such an interrogation is what their first musical selections.  I nod politely as Sam offers the Stereophonics’ “Performance and Cocktails”, but grunt and have to contort my face as Hannah surprises me with Destiny’s Child debut.  She swiftly justifies the revelation by reminding me that Beyoncé is a cool chick (which I interpret as “sexy”) and a compromise is reached.

On the origins of the band name, I am told that it is better than the previous suggestion, but not what that previous suggestion was.  Hannah passes the question to Sam, who explains that while the significance of the words isn’t overwelming, the pleasing assonance of them is.  There’s a meeting of the minds as we all recall the Cellar Door scene from Donnie Darko and I permit the name.

image by Lorenzo Marvulli

Although the cape have recently moved to Bath to follow their academic dreams (Hannah dreams of events management while Sam ponders poetry, prose and stirring narratives), their favourite venue remains the Arts’ Centre in Norwich.  That said, the decision to hit the south-west was partly fuelled by Bath’s proximity to the artistic hub of Bristol where a line-up of many future gigs are to follow.  In particular, the enthusiasm for the prospect of free noodles as performers at Mr Wolf’s is justified and genuine.  We hope that the Bristolian bohemia is enough to suspend their excitement and entice them over again and again.

I hit the duo with a small collection of random questions in order to create a firm mental image of who they are aside from their music.  Both Sam and Hannah agree on cats over dogs and green over red.  Winning me over with these two crucial details, they soon become divided – Sam’s a cheese man, where as Hannah represents chalk all the way.  On discovering that Sam is a tight-leg over loose-breif kind of guy, Hannah brings this line of interrogation to a sharp but necessary conclusion when retorting, “that’s a silly question”.  Yeah, but I curtsey them to this moment for humouring me.

As the two are on the brink of signing to Norwich based indie label, Barefeet Records, all eyes are to be kept peeled for further releases coming soon.  So, it is on this tuneful note that I decide to close things with a fill-the-blanks question as everyone loves them.  At least those who aren’t giving the answer love them.  “We make *blank* for *blank*”, I propose, and after several attempts, I’m content that both blanks are filled with the word “folk”.  Sam’s exploits and endeavours into creative writing are indubitably going to cement themselves into the minds of his attentive listeners and fellow lyricists, while their combined musicianship and talent for acoustic song-writing will move even the more passive listener.  Look these two up and venture a hello as it will be received with gratitude and friendly banter.

Friday, October 30th

Halloween Costume
Karaoke
@ The Senator

Baltimore’s Got Talent!

On stage & on the big screen!

If it’s your dream to perform in the spotlight on
The Senator’s stage, it’s time to make it happen!

Join us Friday, October 30th for
our Karaoke @ The Senator contest finale.

All Karaoke performances take place on stage in
the spotlight accompanied by The Senator’s legendary
sound system. Live video of each performance will be
projected in real time on The Senator’s giant screen.

Featuring the latest state
of the art Karaoke system with touch screen song
selection & over 65,000 songs to choose from.

The Senator’s five week Karaoke contest finale
will be Friday, October 30th with an evening
of “Costume Karaoke”.

First place winner $200 – Second place winner $100

Plus prizes donated by area businesses & Karaoke.com

Doors open at 7:00 PM
Karaoke at 8:00 – til?

Admission $5 at the door

Bring your ID! You must be 21 years of
age to purchase alcoholic beverages.

Karaoke @ The Senator is presented in
conjunction with Brown Entertainment

* * * * *

“There’s No Place Like The Senator!”

Join us on
Saturday, October 31st for our 13th annual
FREE Fall Fest community screening.

Celebrate the 70th anniversary of two
1939 cinema classics,
The Wizard of Oz & The Senator Theatre!

Presented by:
The Friends of the Senator Theatre

The Wizard of Oz
(1939 – G – 100 min.)

Starring:
Judy Garland

Doors open at 12:30pm

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
The festival begins with our
traditional kids costume parade across the stage.

1:30 – 3pm.
Free screening of “The Wizard of Oz”

* * * * *

Join us on
Saturday, October 31st at 10 PM
for a Halloween horror double feature!
Special guest appearance by cult sensation
Chainsaw Sally!

Chainsaw Sally and Jimmy O will introduce
the 10 PM feature,
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

Leatherface Lives!

Tobe Hooper’s
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
[1974 - R - 85 min.]

Five friends visiting their grandpa’s old house
are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding
killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

&

The Dead Walk The Earth!

George Romero’s
Dawn of the Dead
[1978 - R - 120 min.]

Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies
that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia
SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his
television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a
secluded shopping mall.

Admission $6

* * * * *

Join us this Sunday, November 1st

The Senator Theatre
& Park Vibe
Present:

D’Jembe Jazz Jams

Get in on it or all up in it!

Click here for a YouTube clip
of a previous jam session.

Join us from 6 pm – till…

“D’Jembe Jazz Jams” are free form and
open to the public.

Limited percussion instruments provided.
Join us and join in!

Visit www.senator.com for further information and
help spread the word!

STAGE  DI PERCUSSIONI SABAR & DJEMBE

CON ILMAESTRO SENEGALESE WADANE NDIAYE ROSE E IL SUO GRUPPO SUNU NDIAYE ROSE

SABATO 24  e DOMENICA 25  ottobre

Sabato dalle 19.00 alle 21.00

Domenica dalle 15.00 alle 17.00

A Mestre presso

Lo Spazio 156 ,Via Torino 156, Mestre Ve

Info: 328/4899921 , Wadane87@live.fr

Steel Parade performs for the Heritage Park concert series every year. Fans had a great time dancing and playing around. One little boy was so preoccupied by the band, he decided to relieve his bladder in front of the stage. No time for a toilet when you got to dance!

The Facebook fan page for Steel Parade contains silly videos of the band.

Click here to go to the Steel Parade Facebook Fan Page

Here are a couple shots from birthday parties we played for this summer.

]]> http://rickliegl.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/new-home-for-the-drum-school/ Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:40:03 +0000 rickliegl http://rickliegl.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/new-home-for-the-drum-school/

Drumming at the Percussion School is in full swing. If you haven’t visited us yet, come and check us out. We meet at the Wilson Congregational Church (down stairs) in Windsor, CT every Monday night from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. The class is made up of a great group of drummers from beginners to advanced, and everyone is getting better as time goes on. We are drumming on Mondays all the way through the holiday season.

The Wilson Congregational Church at 691 Windsor Avenue is right off the highway on the main street in Windsor. Parking is wide open, and the auditorium we play in is much larger than our old space. I encourage anyone interested in drumming to visit us on Monday nights in our new space.

View Larger Map

I also have an announcement on the cost for the class. After getting an email from a drum teacher in Boston who charges $24.00 for a weekly 2 hour class I started to think about the donation I have been charging for my 2 1/2 hour weekly class. The new fee for the drum class will be a flat fee of $10.00 for the weekly class, and we may charge more for guest teachers and special workshops. Guest teachers will always be advertised before their class.

Finally, ’tis the season to play the drums with the holidays right around the corner. Drumming during your Thanksgiving party is a great way to celebrate. And drums make great gifts. Frank and I have ordered a shipment of 8 drums that are being sent from Guinea. I also have a few great djembes in stock and a continually changing assortment of imported djembe CDs & books.

To name a continent with immensity of history and diversity in culture is Africa. There is no wonder at the opulence of Africa in music. Music is an important part of all cultures in all ages. Musical instruments vary with a variety of musical genres throughout the continent. This article is a glimpse of the most common of them.

Made from gourd, cabasa is covered with shells or seeds. Africans play it by striking it on the hands and legs in various combinations. A drum-like sharp tone emanates when the top of the instrument is hit. The Yoruba people of Nigeria use it in folkloric music.

Agogo, one of the oldest samba instruments plays a vital role in the Yoruba music. The two bells of this African instrument are different in size. A high tone springs from the smaller bell while a low tone emanates from the larger one.

Djembe, another African instrument has its origin in the Mali Empire during the twelfth century. Shaped like a drum with a skin covering, it produces a variety of tones when beaten with the hands in multiple rhythms.

Made from dried palm shells and wood, Juju is known for its percussive sound. The significance of this musical instrument lies in its role in cultural programs during Yoruba ceremonies. It is frequently used in the Nigerian music.

Made in the shape of an hour glass, the talking drum is played by beating it with a stick. The strings of the drum are tightened to change the tonality in a range. The origin of the talking drum dates one thousand years back to the Ghana Empire.

Thumb piano varies in hundreds in the African continent. Mbira one of such instruments is played by plucking the keys with the thumb and index finger of one hand and holding the piano with another hand. Made from metal and hardwood, the instrument has been used during their social and religious ceremonies.

Join us this Sunday, October 4th
and Every Sunday in October!

The Senator Theatre
Park Vibe & United Community Access Media [UCAM]
Present:

D’Jembe Jazz Jams

Held every Sunday
in October to celebrate
The Senator Theatre’s 70th Anniversary

Get in on it or all up in it!

Join us every Sunday in October from 4pm – till
as part of The Senator’s month long
“OctoberFest” celebration.

All of October’s “D’Jembe Jazz Jams” are free
form and open to the public.
Limited percussion
instruments provided.

Join us and join in!

Visit www.senator.com for further information
and help spread the word!

for the griots of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

and the sky was always blue,
jewel of unspent water
tugging me to your homeland:
worn pages of a guidebook,
liner notes on an album cover,
a gawky boy’s photo —
pondering, remote, painfully familiar —
your song lured me across oceans,
through three months of dysentery and bad gospel,
voodoo and drought,
wandering spirals unpeeling to a heart of sweet sorghum
revealed in a dream —

and through dry red streets
butterflies followed me in flocks
and the hour of fires called me to you –
gold ball sinking into red dust
and sprouting wing mirages
through dancing ladies,
origamied pink and purple turbans
in sunset on a parkbench,
an evening festival,
wind on wings of moped breath,
the endless rejoicing of bicycle bells
and the longing calls of beggar boys
and the final bliss of the end of a pilgrimage —
asleep under mosquito nets’ bridal silence
and the white sheets smelled so sweet!
and mornings — gay blue-painted dawn,
plastic-bagged yogurt, street-stall cafés,
light filigreeing through mango-tree cathedrals,
peanuts cracking the morning cool —
lime-green taxis sauntering in the shade
taking us homeward, a cracked green doorframe
where the sun always blinded me —

and in an instant I knew I was home,
more than I’ve ever been —
when children ran to greet me,
murmuring like possoms, alive,
small okra hands staining my shirts,
frantic — wielding crayons,
offering salad from open palms —
seizing love they never learned could be withheld —

and the towering gods of your mother and father
as they greeted us each dawn:
“bien dormi?”, a cup of tea —
black horses neighing white light,
riding Houet currents in dreams and music,
glowing trails of stars.
I followed their carved brown faces,
kissing the sparks on their tunic hems —

and you were their serious colt —
grown out of gawky precocity,
patriarch of princesses
speaking in watermelon tongues
of wet balafon syllables,
smiling deep sun grimace,
digging gold in a heart
I never even knew I had;
pulling strings of blown glass
from a harp of buried longing
too deep to excavate or recreate —

and you carved your hands in rock and leather
against the djembe’s grainy skull,
devil heartbeats, brother smirks,
reckless cigarettes dangling, play showoff murder,
all boys — never stop to talk,
coaxing women’s bottoms to dance,
and I danced — not thinking the night would end,
black air alive with flirting and flies,
tossed scarves and babies,
your rhythms calling tired children to sleep,
mats laid under full moons —

and through flowered chains of days we
played; braided together
in the women’s strong hands,
woven through giggling garlands
of ministering girls,
swept up in the evening cool with
drum head scraps, Maggi wrappers,
crayon peelings, cropped afro fluff —

and I counted each day as the mangoes dropped
one by one on the dusty soccer field,
never really thinking it would end —
each blue moment stretched taut on my ribcage,
uncured — a new drumhead of sky leather.
At night we formed a circle on the concrete,
dipping hands in one bowl.
“T’es invitée,” you’d smile;
“food tastes bad when you eat it alone.”

In the smoke of midnight my heart clutched you
as a baby clutches a finger —
memory rosaries budding my tongue.
The closer time slipped, the tighter the knot hitched
around me — each moment surreal, luminous:
the empty sound of taxis
and the last gas station open —
breathless coastings through streetlights
on moped backs — windswept dawn,
each night passing like falling stars
out of my hands, one by one.
A crossing in dreams,
where my origins blurred with the dawn —
goats crying outside the twins’ window,
my knuckles white on your shadow —

and the day I left:
pacing in the morning chill,
inhaling with all my nose,
knowing it would all be gone:
artifacts at the airport,
a cold croissant, loudspeakers,
the forgotten wince of toilet bowls,
strange shackles of shoes
hiding indelible red dust tattoos,
sudden winter, a cab ride home,
and no one to share my sauce with —

and the house so big,
the food so cold
without the brush of your fingers in my bowl —
hennaed fingers fading with each office hour
grey cell, flourescent light,
ticking clock,
black nailpolish.
Black nights of winter:
snow falling in my bones,
vacant traffic moans,
utterly void of goats, soulless.
A plastic fork, a takeout box —
my belly howled grief.
At night, I’d wake and wonder where I was —

and even now,
I can’t seem
to put this jewel away,
though I have no place for it here;
no chain or setting big enough
to contain so much blue heaven.
It cuts my hands, leaving
irridescent scars,
butterfly dust stains,
bleaches me silver.
I’ve travelled so far beyond tears,
embracing open holes
no frozen dinner will fill —

and for all I know,
the music still goes on,
and I know it goes on —
across the ocean, but also inside,
songs wound in knots thick as my fist
but music is patient,
wandering the cosmos
in endless perfect spirals,
scoping out hosts
even after we leave this life —
black colt ancestor,
blue smoke trail like a smile following you
into the blind heartbeat of the sun

into the next longing halo
of unborn souls —

for all I know, it goes on —
and I can’t help but follow,
butterfly riding your wake —
hunting my nectar in your comet trail,
pollinating flowers of our mother tongue.

© Sarah Noack 2002

I will begin my Djembe Drumming Credit-Free Course at Manchester Community College on Wednesday October 7th. Drum Team: Introduction to the West African Djembe Drum Ensemble runs for the four Wednesdays of October from 6:30 to 8:30. Like all of my classes, they are multi-level, very informative, and fun. The beginners will learn the techniques of drumming along side advanced drummers who will be working on advanced accompaniments and solos.  For more information, please call Jessie at MCC 512-2823.