Lets learn an African Song - 'Sunumba' from the Sunu rhythm, Mali
Lets learn an African Song - 'Sunumba' from the Sunu rhythm, Mali
Fancy learning an African drumming song? This was one I learnt a couple of years back after attending an African Drumming course with UK teacher Hans Sutton. Watch and listen to the song here:
I have transcribed the words against the Sunu dundun rhythm as follows:
The X = bell beat; circle indicates open dundun beat; a ‘C’ indicates a closed dundun beat; / = space in pattern.
Disclaimer: Transcription does not account for the subtleties of the sunu swing.
According to Hans Sutton, the song translates as:
Ah, where’s Sununba? Eh, Sunun can’t be found. Suffering isn’t your enemy; death is your enemy.
Eh, there is no God but God, Eh, and Mohammed is his prophet, Eh, In the name of God, Eh, In the name of the prophet, Eh, Who must we thank? Let the great man Sununba be thanked.
Ah, to reach old age is sweet, Eh, Jeneba Tera; Suffering isn’t your enemy; Dearth is your enemy.
Sunu is a rhythm played by the Kagoro people in Kaarta, Mali, West Africa. The original source is from Ibrahim Sarr, “Porte 386 Medina Coura.
Enjoy the song! Find out more about our African Drumming classes here.
Teenagers in crisis - what can we do to help?
Teenagers in crisis - what can we do to help?
As a parent, this week’s ‘Panorama: ‘Kids in Crisis’ made me worry about the future for our children when they reach their teenage years. With pressures from school, social media, family strains and the general fast pace of life, the programme highlighted that more and more teenagers need access to extremely overstretched mental health services. There was a big focus on prevention and early intervention leading to better outcomes than later, emergency measures. So what can parents and adults working with young people do to help try and prevent young people suffering from mental health issues?
One thing is to allow children and young people access to a range of group activities that allow them to focus on the activity in hand and working productively with people in the group, and not on external pressures and what other people may be thinking about them. Different activities will suit different young people and include sport, drama, music and organised groups such as the Scouting movement and the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
The Radio 4 series (aired in July), ‘Storm and Stress: New ways of looking at adolescent mental health’ featured Jack Drum Arts based in County Durham.
To quote the presenter
“Drumming isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind, but for some young people, an organisation based on drumming has been a life-saver”.
Here at Unbeatable Energy we have a long track record of providing drumming workshops to children and young people through schools, youth groups and the scout and guiding movement. Young people are also welcome at our Sheffield evening classes. We find that group drumming brings people together and often levels the playing field so that the quieter individuals really shine.
Residencies at schools can provide an excellent opportunity for longer-term engagement and progression. One of our ex-students, Amy Cawthorn, participated in such a residency in Rotherham back in 2012. She is now the leader of the community group ‘Rotherham African Drummers’. Here is Amy’s account of what African drumming meant for her as a teenager and what it continues to mean today:
“As a teenager African drumming gave me a sense of focus. It helped me to stay calm and it was (and still is) a brilliant way to relieve my stress – especially during exam time. Sometimes, as a teenager (and even now as an adult) I find drumming relaxing, an outlet, a way to express my emotional state when I’m on my own, and – as a group – it’s a good way to share something with people. A shared experience can help bring people together and I think this is what I’ve taken from my teenage years.
“African Drumming is a great way for young people to meet others and build their confidence and self-esteem through participating in a group activity. Measuring goals both on musical and personal levels can really help people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs to create meaningful relationships, build support networks and to have an outlet for all kinds of emotional relief.
“I can have the worst day in the world but get me on an African djembe drum and I feel miles better!”
Like this story? You might also like our scout camp article here.
For more information on how we can we can bring some Unbeatable Energy to the young people you work with, see our community page or call us on 0114 2747527.
A big boomwhacker event with added 'wow' factor!
A big boomwhacker event with added 'wow' factor!
Yes, that’s right, that really is a concorde plane in a giant hanger with people playing boomwhackers underneath!
Leading a corporate boomwhacker session for 700 people under a Concorde has always been on my bucket list and now I can tick it off – hooray! Alright, not really – who knew such a thing was even possible? I was incredibly excited when I heard about this potential gig via the Out There Events company and had to visit the venue on a recce to see it with my own eyes. A genius idea to turn a redundant but world-famous aircraft into a venue! With carpet, seats, a buffet and everything else you may expect from a regular conference venue, but UNDERNEATH A CONCORDE – this was a fantastic venue to get people playing boomwhackers.
I love leading big gigs like this. They are incredibly exciting and a little scary. In fact I need an adrenaline hit like this every once in a while – I really thrive on the challenge. And there are challenges with such large gigs. The layout of the boomwhackers must be carefully planned to ensure musical equality and harmony on the day. I need a large team and they need to know exactly what is going on. Inevitably, on the day things can change and numbers of people can fluctuate, but not to worry – we always pack spare boomwhackers for this reason. The biggest challenge with such a large group is how to facilitate the live music being made as there can be a time delay between one side of the room and the other. There are various plans we put in place to mitigate this potential issue – careful planning of the location of the colours and positioning team members on stage to lead colours both really help. However, I need to really put my trust into the participants as well – I facilitate the music, but actually they are the ones who self-correct if the pulses start to go off-time. It is a real testimony to the power of teamwork that when a big group of people really focus on a task they are able to come together in synergy and synchronicity – the success of this event really proved this theory. There is more to these corporate events than you would originally think!
We would like to thank Out There Events for enabling this unique opportunity. They understand all the planning that goes in to such an event to make it work. We would also like to thank the Concorde Conference Centre – we would love to return! And finally, a big thank you to all the willing participants who made this one of our most memorable gigs yet.
If you have a conference event coming up and would like to make it a highly memorable success we’d love to hear from you. To book an event or discuss your requirements please contact us – we will be delighted to help!
African drumming circle challenge with Royal Mail Team
African Drumming Workshop With For The Suzuki Violion Group
We have just received some wonderful footage from a big drum circle session last month with staff from Royal Mail. It’s just too good not to share!
The video is the culmination of a workshop where the entire group of 110 delegates split up into 5 smaller teams to device their own rhythm composition. Their compositions were then incorporated into one big group drumming piece.
The drumming session was part of a leadership programme facilitated by People Create. We loved working with People Create – they provided a great brief before the session. The whole leadership programme was about evaluating success not by one’s own personal achievements, but instead by your ability to help colleagues acquire the same level of expertise.
The team break out part of our drumming session was a superb way to bring this to the fore. In team break outs there is always a mix of skill levels in the area of music, drumming and rhythm. As the session progresses, people with either a great idea or skill become the natural leaders in the session. It is their responsibility to communicate their idea in a way that everyone can understand and put effectively into practice. This can be tricky and just having a real flare for music and rhythm does not necessarily mean you will automatically be good at teaching and instructing those around you. What really helps is if a leader is able to empathise and relate to another person’s level of expertise and think flexibly of ways in which that person can understand, overcome obstacles and progress to their same level of acquired expertise.
The video shows some wonderful ideas. We were very impressed, not just by each team’s imagination and energy, by most of all by the way they managed to include everyone! We do hope we can work with People Create and Royal Mail again in the future.
If you would like further information on the sessions we offer, please get in touch.
