Banging the Drum for Ghana Links
7/12/2010
CHILDREN from Plymouth schools got into an African rhythm at a workshop celebrating the city’s links to Ghana.
As part of Ghana Week, music duo Sabey have been performing in Plymouth and also ran a workshop for kids at Plymouth Music Zone.
Ghana Week co-ordinator Elaine Budd said some of the schools which have been most active in the Plymouth-Ghana Link took part in the workshop on Wednesday morning.
Sabey, who fuse West African rhythms and world music influences, then performed in a marquee in Devonport Park at a Big Arts Festival event.
Ms Budd said: “It was just incredible. There was a wonderful atmosphere, there was a marquee full of children and they were all enthralled, dancing and clapping their hands. Sabey really are amazing.”
She said members of the public also attended the event in the park, and the children took part in art and craft activities such as making colourful Ghanaian masks.
Sabey, which is a Ga (the Ghanaian language) word meaning curiosity, is made up of Ishmael Sackey and Julien Weishaupt, who perform with an infectious curiosity for rhythm.
They fuse West African instruments such as the djembe, doundoun, balafon, with traditional Ga chants and rhythms, while also using the cahon, the Afro-Peruvian drum most commonly associated with Cuban and Flamenco music.