THE DRUM IS a powerful instrument and it holds a special place in Barbados’ history.
The drum was the chief instrument used by our black ancestors as a form of communication as well as to celebrate a successful harvest.
Even today, that tradition continues, so much so that Barbados’ largest annual festival, Crop Over, is never officially started without the punchy boom of the drum accompanying the ceremonial delivery of the last canes.
But dancer/choreographer Ian Douglas believes that Crop Over has reached a state of stagnation because this main ingredient has been pushed aside and is not being fully incorporated.
However, Douglas, director of The House of Re-Discovery (HRD), is trying to correct the wrong through an initiative he started six years ago: The Global Day of The Drum.
The term day is used symbolically as this year the event started on July 5 and will cover an entire year.
At a recent drumming session in Independence Square, The City, Douglas told the DAILY NATION that several top Barbadian-born international artistes have tried in vain to impress upon Barbadians the importance of the drum.
Psyche
Nonetheless, he was optimistic that with several initiatives to highlight the drum planned for the remainder of the year, this would be the time for Barbadians to get a better understanding of themselves and the drum as a spiritual instrument.
“We would like to take it to a completely different level and get Barbadians to understand the significance of the drum to the Barbadian psyche,” said the former dance officer of the National Cultural Foundation.
“We have words in the language like bruk, brax, bruggadown but we don’t realise that is drum retention in the language, while what we call wuk up is basically the imagination of the drum.
“So the Bajan body and the Bajan psyche responds to the missing drum that was taken away in 1630 and that is why we are bringing it back,” he said.
Douglas said one of the main reasons why the drum had not fulfilled its role in Barbados was because the development of culture had been commercialised.
Everyone gravitated to the money, not appreciating that there needed to be a balance of energy, while other areas of the arts, such as drumming, was not seen as important, he said.
“If you look at Jamaica, they used the drum in a different way because the drum is expressed by the bass sound in Jamaican music. Jackie Opel brought a heartbeat for us and we considered him to be mad. El Verno Del Congo and even the Merrymen – they were very rhythmic and used the drums in a specific way to capture the Barbadian audience.
“So for me, I am a dancer/choreographer by profession but I have a very special connection to the drum. So the Bajan body is an area of research I think we need to understand about ourselves because there is not a lot we know about ourselves.
“I have realised there are some speech impediments, for example, because if the drum was our spiritual instrument when we needed to use the drum and it was taken away then something would have been missing. So we have evolved as a culture with this missing drum analogy,” he said.
For Douglas, the drum is a natural part of everyone’s being. It communicates directly with the central nervous system, so you can’t stop yourself from hearing it.
Energise
Douglas said electronic music might enhance a song but it could never truly energise the body, mind and soul.
“The Global Day of The Drum [is intended] to be a new light unto Barbados’ cultural space. [I want] Barbadians to come on board and understand. . .,” he said. “You have ear drums and if you don’t use your ear drums, you cannot hear me. But we separate the African drums from ourselves, so we are not making the connection.
“Your heart is the biggest drum. You would have heard your first drum beat as your mother’s heart. The drum is infinite. The drum is life.” (SDB Media)