After several months of sporadic rehearsals we finally performed our first concert with the marvellous percussion students at Guildhall. We played massed versions of Royal Fontomfrom drumming (something bash were possibly the first non-Ghanaians to learn), Kete drumming (also from Ghana) and some Senegalese djembe drumming. We extended the quartet 'Apple Blossom' by Peter Garland into a quartet of marimbas with twenty two players and also played a rarely performed version of Omar Clay's 'Rumble in the Jungle' from Max Roach's unique percussion group M'BOOM.
Given that we were using almost all the instruments in the world it was also pleasing that there was about twenty five of us packing up.
We're already making big plans for next year. Watch this space. Or a space on this website anyway.
