Contact the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County;
SPECTRA 831-475-9600 www.ccscc.org

Cultural Council for Monterey County
831-622-9096 www.culturalmonterey.org

West African Drum and Dance Workshops, Residencies and Performances.


AFRICAN DRUM WORKSHOP/RESIDENCY: (DJEMBE) Set of Student sized instruments provided, all students participate, learn the fundamentals of rhythm, slap, tone, bass, accompaniments, interlocking rhythm patterns, songs, breaks and more. Social and celebration rhythms will be taught.

AFRICAN DANCE WORKSHOPS/RESIDENCY: African dance choreography performed to live drum accompaniment, all students participate in learning dance fundamentals, timing, shape, tempo, choreography. Social and celebration dances will be taught.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE ASSEMBLIES: Student performances are available for longer term residencies. We can put together a choreography piece with drumming and dancing for your next student assembly/school show.

DOMU AFRICA SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES: Bring Domu Africa to your school for a Performance assembly. Live drums, colorful costumes, African performers, traditional singing bring the sights and sounds of Senegal to your school. New this year is a teacher African curriculum guide for Senegal. Includes, lesson plan ideas, background information on Senegal and cultural insights.

Ibrahima (Ibou) Ngom facilitates community drumming and dancing with adults and students of all ages. He has worked with and performed for elementary though high school students, at-risk youth and university students. He is a SPECTRA Artist in Residence and a Professional Artist in the Schools with the Cultural Council of Monterrey County. His group Domu Africa is a favorite in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. Together they bring the sights and sounds of Senegal alive through traditional music and dance performances. With a set of student sized instruments Ibou can turn any room into an African drum corp. His patient and friendly teaching style makes him a popular teacher. Born into a Griot family of traditional musicians in Senegal, West Africa, he has been carrying on his familys musical lineage since childhood. Ibrahima toured with two prominent Senegalese dance companies, the 2nd National Ballet of Senegal and the Ballet Afrique Noir before coming to the United States five years ago. Since then Ibou has been working to share his native cultures music and dance traditions with US audiences and especially students. He is available to lead classes in dance and drum, host performances and/or community workshops.

Link to Ibou's listing as RUAP Community Faculty at California State Monterey Bay

http://ruap.csumb.edu/community_faculty.html

PRAISE FOR IBOU'S PROGRAMS
Thank you for your hard work this summer. You have animated the souls of many young people. You have exposed then to life beyond television and video games. You truly have been a liberating mentor. Thank you, Richard Dye, Caymen School, Salinas

Kids find rhythm
BY AMANDA SCHOENBERG
Deep in concentration, Nancy Fernandez, 8, mouthed her “da-da-dum-dums” as master drummer Ibrahima “Ibou” N’Gom led a class of youngsters assembled Tuesday at Callaghan Park Cultural Center.
Many kids in the weekly African drumming class have never touched a drum before, said Alison Soohoo, recreation coordinator at Callaghan Park Cultural Center, who was instrumental in bringing Senegal native N’Gom to Watsonville.
“I knew the kids would get a lot out of this,” she said.
Each child in the class of 12 gets a djembe drum, Soohoo said.
Kids are mostly 8-11 years old, though one 3-year-old joined the class. The smallest ones prop drums on chairs in front of them.
“It’s really about listening and working with other people,” Soohoo said about the class. “It’s this really cool interlocking thing. There’s a lot to jump in on every level.”
Tuesday’s class was the second of the week for Aromas resident Emma Madruga, 12, a student at Linscott Charter School.
“I really like the class a lot,” she said. “You get to learn about music from a foreign country.”
“I love listening to it,” said her mother, Nan Madruga, as she tapped her foot.
The class is part of a larger city project to expand creative offerings for Watsonville kids.
The city Parks and Recreation Department recently adopted as a model the 41 development assets configured by nonprofit Search Institute that are divided into external and internal assessment factors to help kids live healthy lives.
Soohoo pointed to the results of a Search Institute report on 291 Watsonville kids from sixth to 12th grade. The study found that only 15 percent joined creative activities three or more hours per week and 12 percent had positive adult role models.
The results were striking for Soohoo, a visual artist.
“Kids aren’t doing art? What?” she said. “That’s an area that’s really close to me. It’s not as if music and art is not here. But in terms of bringing it to kids in an educational format, there’s a lot of work to be done.”
The city also hopes to add a spring class with Teri Steinman, director of educational theater at Pisces Moon Theatre, in which kids will write, direct and star in their own production.
“It’s been really exciting to dream this kind of thing up,” said Soohoo, who began her position in September.
During the class, N’Gom leads with aplomb, demonstrating rhythms and then gesturing for students to continue around the circle. He is frank, but not harsh, telling kids they are too fast or too slow when they begin a rhythm competition.
Although he acknowledges kids can get hyper, N’Gom finds ways to keep them concentrated. He says “ago” and the class responds “amai” in a sort of calming call and response.
“I love to work with kids,” he said, adding that a slow day perks up when he thinks about teaching.
“He doesn’t let them get away with stuff,” Madruga said. “He teaches them respect.”
N’Gom also works with students in Watsonville Charter School of the Arts and Ohlone Elementary School and holds an after-school program at Valencia Elementary School. This is his first class with the city.
He moved to Santa Cruz in 1997 and has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and California State University, Monterey Bay.
He also leads a trip to Senegal for adults in December and performs with friends and family in the group N’Gomez, as well as local group Domu Africa.
Kids can still join the current class, which ends Dec. 6. The next six-week cycle begins Feb. 7. The cost is $45. Scholarships are available. For more information, call 728-6084.