Feeling Rhythms

When I was eleven years old I woke up one morning and got this crazy idea that I had to start playing native drums. Most of our drumming is cultural. It's a kind of inheritance. Everyone feels the same way when they're growing up. They do everything that they have to do because they are chosen. You start feeling, "I might do that." My uncle played when I was little. I used to listen to him. His last name was Akakpo, Egle was his nickname. Anthony was his Catholic name. He is an Ayivor too. This uncle was very good. He was not only a teacher and a drummer, but a master of philosophy. He played all the Ewe drums. He played the abako, the ehue, the gahu, the agbeka, the agbadza - those are not the names of drums but of the interlocking rhythms he played on them. Certain of them can correspond to certain life cycles. For example, we play the agbadza, for the soul of the dead. We call these rhythms melodies. For us it is melody because each of the drums has a tone of its own. Especially the ashiwui drum. Then comes the small drum the akpagbang, then the gatingo, or cowbell, then the ayaya, which is the maraca. The mixture of tones and rhythms gives you a melody.

Kofi Ayivor