Bridging Cultures - Drumming from Visalia to Guinea
Learning from the master. Buddy Jones has been drumming for many years (Above, Buddy is second from the right). He had never considered taking lessons until he met Keio Ogawa,…
Learning from the master. Buddy Jones has been drumming for many years (Above, Buddy is second from the right). He had never considered taking lessons until he met Keio Ogawa, Wadaba’s wife and drumming partner. Keio could see that Buddy had talent. However, she suggested he learn more about the music of drumming.
Mamady "WADABA" Kourouma is a master djembe & dunun drummer from Guinea, West Africa. Every year Wadaba offers students guided tours to his home village of Oroko in Upper Guinea's Sankaran region, near the border of Hamana.
In February, 2021 Wadaba and Donte McDaniel received a grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Apprentice Program. Wadaba is passing on the rhythms of his people to Donte McDaniel, his apprentice to cultivate a strong foundation in West African Traditional Djembe drumming, a form of drumming that is a part of the larger Mandeng (Mandingue) culture and dates back over 400 years.
Here is Wadaba with Donte and his apprentices, performing on November 6th, 2021 at the Arts of America in Fresno.
The Oroko Fund. Buddy began taking lessons from Wadaba twenty years ago. After playing together in many drumming circles, sharing good food and dance, Wadaba, Keio, Buddy and his wife Lori have become good friends. Their friendship found a common cause early on when Wadaba returned from a trip to Guinea. He sadly reported that his entire village had burned to the ground.
Having played drums from the age of five with his elders, Wadaba has always felt a great responsibility and desire to help his extended clan, friends, and neighbors that comprise his home village. When his village burned down in 2001, Wadaba and his wife Keio Ogawa created the Oroko Fund. For the past twenty years Wadaba, Keio and his good friends Buddy and Lori Jones have solicited local support to ship food and clothing to his Oroko village.
Bridging The Cultures From Visalia To Guinea. “The most important skill I gleaned from master drummer Wadaba was how to find the Passport Beat of any drumming group.” Before playing with a new group, Buddy has developed an ear for finding their Passport Beat. After learning how to listen and then play those Passport Beats he consistently gains acceptance to drum circles throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Now, he is ready to make a trip to Africa to play with the Oroko. Recently he received an unexpected invitation to make that trip.
H2OpenDoors. Another one of Buddy’s good friends, Jon Kaufman, has spent the last decade forging relationships with communities in African villages in need of safe drinking water. In partnership with local Rotary Clubs, H2OpenDoors contributes a solar-powered water purification plant that can produce up to 40,000 liters of safe drinking water every single day from virtually any raw source. This is enough water production to guide a village or a school into establishing a water sales business, earning as much as $100,000 per year for their social services.
Jon, and Buddy worked together for many years as members of a 60’s intentional community. The bonds created from that experience has served both of them for the past 30 years. In recognition of his continued good work, Jon invited Buddy to join him on his next trip to Africa.
All of the details are yet to be worked out for making this trip. However, we look forward to sharing this journey and witnessing the completion of that bridge between drummers from Visalia and Guinea.
Passport Beat Explained
Wadaba, Keio and Buddy Drum Session
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