Author Archives: Kate

First day of workshops

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We had a great first day of workshops!

First, we went to the Lookout/Brades primary schools in Lookout and had a huge number of students! It turned out that the boys wanted to drum first and the girls wanted to dance first, so the groups were split by boys and girls.

We were able to gather a good number of conga drums from across the island for the workshops. They’re not djembes, but the drums are similar enough, and we hope to have some djembes here soon so that students can learn the technique on the correct drum.

Drums

The kids were energetic and caught on really quickly to both the drumming and the dancing! It’s exciting to see so much innate rhythm in the students.

In the evening, we taught our first adult workshops at the Old Primary School in Salem. Again, we were thrilled to see such a great turnout. There were over 20 students in each workshop! The drumming class was first, and Dominique taught some basic rhythms like “lamba” and other patterns.

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Kate taught the Irish dance class after a short break, and she showed students the basic “threes” and “sevens” of Irish step dance, as well as some basic patterns from “old style” sean nós Irish dance.

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At the end, Kate and Dominique gave an impromptu “blended rhythms” demonstration: Irish dancing to African drumming!

We received great feedback from the participants and are excited to develop and improve the workshops further as we progress towards St. Patrick’s Day here in Montserrat.

Here is a video of the first adult workshops:

Workshops begin next week

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We’ve had an exciting week getting ready for the workshops starting next week. Check the sidebar for the updated schedule! We’ll be teaching on Mondays after school to the children of St. Augustine School in Palm Loop, on Tuesdays after school to the children of Lookout and Brades Schools at the Lookout location, and on Thursdays at the Montserrat Secondary School at the Brades location. For adults, we’ll be offering a workshop on Tuesday evenings at 7:30pm at the Old Primary School in Salem.

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So far the promotions have been going well! We’ve been interviewed by ZJB radio three times now: Kate was on Rose Willock’s Culture Show on Saturday morning, both Kate and Dominique were interviewed for the evening news on Tuesday, and both of us also spoke with Basil Chambers on his “breakfast show” on Thursday morning. On Friday morning, we visited St. Augustine School for their weekly assembly to invite the children to participate and to give them a short demo of the dance and drum. Every student raised their hand when asked who would be interested in participating!

We are looking forward to kicking things off next week!

Drumming Workshops for Kids

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WorkshopDuring the African Music Festival, Jalikunda gave a workshop to children learning music at a school in Salem. The young musicians were led by a young woman named Becky Chalmers, who is in Montserrat on a fellowship this year from Sir George Martin (famous for being the Beatles’ manager and who is a Montserrat resident) through the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Her job is to boost interest and talent in music for Montserrat children. The fellowship is awarded to a new person every year, and her term was extended for another year so Blended Rhythms will be teaming up with her and her efforts!

Here is some footage from the West African dance and drumming workshops that Jalikunda offered to kids in Montserrat last March. The kids loved it, especially once they got out of their seats to dance!

If the video does not play, please click here: Kids Dancing Workshop.mov

Paddywhackery in Montserrat

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PaddywhackeryOn St. Patrick’s Day, there is “Irishness” all over Montserrat. There are shamrocks and Irish flags in shops and pubs, and most of the tourist (and many locals too!) get completely decked out in “paddywhackery.”



In Ireland and the US, these symbols signify Irish pride, but in Montserrat they inspire freedom across national, cultural, racial, and ethnic boundaries. Some might even say that in Montserrat, the people are more Irish than the Irish themselves, as this man from Co. Sligo says during a documentary interview in 2004 (starting at 6:14):

Paddywhackery at the Green Monkey

Jalikunda at V’s Bar

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Jalikunda at V's BarJalikunda rocked V’s Bar at the “rum tour” during the St. Patrick’s Week festivities in 2013. The rousing rhythms had everyone moving!



There have been many conversations about Jalikunda returning next year and about how to further develop the African Music Festival, especially getting out into the community more and teaching more workshops. Blended Rhythms hopes to team up with the members of Jalikunda (and, of course, Dominique is one of them!) to bring together an African/Irish rhythm extravaganza!

St. Patrick’s Day 2013

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Communications and Projects Officer Richard Aspin explains why the African Music Festival was added to St. Patrick’s Week festivities, for the first time in 2013:

“The whole point of having an African music festival as part of St. Patrick’s week is that, in the 1700s, the slaves, the African slaves, in Montserrat, rebelled on the day of St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 1768, I think it was. They had a big slave rebellion, and all the slaves were hanged for rebelling against the Irish, and it was the Irish people on island who had plantations. So all these slaves worked for the Irish. So they rebelled! During a big party because of St. Patrick’s Day. So because of that, we remember St. Patrick’s Day not because of the Irish, but because of the slave rebellion, which eventually led to the freedom of the slaves.”

Here is a video of Irish dancing and West African drumming/dancing at the 2013 festival, featuring workshop instructors Kate and Dominique (with Jalikunda). We can’t wait for more and even better performances bringing together Irish and West African traditions in 2014!

If video does not play, please click here: Montserrat Irish African Dance.mov