The Amazones  Perform at Publick Playhouse

By Edith Billups
WI Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007

In some African countries the djembe drum is a sacred instrument to be played by male percussionists only. Mamoudou Conde was determined to break that “taboo.”
  
Eight years ago, Conde, a Guinea native, asked seven master drummers from Guinea to train several women to play the drum. Last weekend, the Amazones, a group of women master

drummers, singers and dancers from Guinea, performed at the Publick Playhouse before an exuberant and appreciative audience.
  
“In Africa, some traditional instruments have almost disappeared as many older men who play them die away,” Conde said. “By teaching females how to play traditional instruments, the women, who are close to children, can pass on the tradition.”

  

Initially, some of the male teachers felt the women were wrong for breaking tradition, particularly when drums are played only for sacred ceremonies. But, despite the initial reluctance, The Amazones, nine women, have gone on to receive international acclaim as they transmit with dynamic intensity the diversity of Africa’s culture and history.

Named after the intrepid warrior women of the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey (now called Benin), they have

become international stars and role models for young African women seeking independence from ancient ways and freedom of self-expression.

At the Publick Playhouse, the women played a variety of instruments, including the krin, played by secret societies and used to communicate between villages, as well as the balafon, named after a famous griot, who lived in the Mali Empire.

During the evening, Fatoumata Kouyate, descendant of one of the griot families in West Africa, played a balafon solo that was impressive for its energetic and joyous delivery.

On Kawa (Wongbeengbe), three dancers performed a folkloric dance that celebrates the New Year and which is also played when the harvest has been prolific. On Soli (Sangbanyi), drummers Djessona Diabate, Damaye Soumah, and Mariaama Bailo Diallo, were engaging as they took turns drumming a rite of passage rhythm played when time comes to initiate young boys into manhood.

With a graceful kick, holding a dhembe between their knees, the women teased and played with the audience as they drummed with intensity and power.

For Takada Harris, a D.C. resident, “To play, sing and drum at the same time is incredible. I drum with the Malcolm X Drummers, locally, and doing just one takes a lot of concentration.”

So far their testing of the taboo hasn’t had any effect,” Conde said. Aly Sylla, one of the original seven master drummers who taught the women to play, was called to the stage. He was handed a drum by one of the women, as two others bowed in respectful reverence. He now works as the group’s technical director.

He played a short, but powerful solo, as the audience loudly applauded.