2008 Woodie Awards
Drum lessons draw community together
Lindsey Davies / Staff Writer
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The rhythmic beat of more than a dozen West African jembe drums resonated Oct. 6 off the stark white walls and tile floors of the dull meeting room at the Vickrey Community Center.
Jembe means "to gather," and that is exactly what happened. About 15 people of all ages came together to participate in a free West African drumming class offered by performing artist and instructor Ayinde Hurrey.
"The magic of the jembe is that it brings people together," Hurrey said.
An even mix of male and female students sat in a semi-circle with jembe drums propped between their legs as they attentively listened to Hurrey's instructions.
Hurrey's passionate, yet playful personality shined as he explained the history and technique of this unique instrument, which is believed to have originated from the West African countries of Mali, Guinea and Senegal.
"It is an art and a discipline, if you approach it correctly," Hurrey said.
Hurrey told the class that not just any rhythm can be played on the jembe because it is a form of communication in which each rhythm has a specific meaning.
"I had a drum teacher from Ghana who showed me a rhythm, and I tried to repeat the same rhythm," Hurrey said. "He laughed, and I asked, 'What are you laughing at?' " The instructor told Hurrey that he had just tapped out a naughty word on the drum that was the equivalent of saying something disgraceful to a woman, Hurrey said.
Hurrey said his classes usually are not free. He said the free drumming class was a promotion for his return to Pensacola and the future classes he plans to teach in the area, which are a part of his Hurrey-Up Stage and Film Works Company.
Hurrey said he became interested in African drumming and dancing because of his father.
"My father was a percussionist and musician who was very verse in West Nigerian and Latin American instruments," he said. "He was the percussionist for a group that was popular during the civil rights movement in the late-60s and early-70s called The Last Poets."
The Last Poets were a controversial group that formed in 1968 on the anniversary of Malcolm X's birthday, which was shortly after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. With the content of their poems attacking everything from racists and the government to the bourgeoisie, their first album in 1970 reached the Top 10 album charts. Many credit The Last Poets with being the originators of rap music.
Hurrey said his family moved from New York to North Carolina when he was young.
He said this is when his father started an African Dance company in North Carolina.
"I have been in rehearsals and drumming since I was 3 and have been loving it ever since," Hurrey said.
Hurrey said he got serious about the performing arts in 11th grade when he resided in Los Angeles for a short time.
He said he received a bachelor's degree in theatre from North Carolina Central University and a master's in acting from the University of Florida.
Hurrey said he resided to New York City for about four or five years and then came to Pensacola. He said he had a friend from Pensacola who convinced him to move to here and start the Hurrey-Up Stage and Film Works Company.
Hurrey said he has been teaching drumming since he was 12 years old, and he has been teaching other performance classes since he was about 18.
He said he started the company because he has the desire to be his own boss and because of his love for the performing arts.
"I don't want to work for anybody else," he said.
Hurrey teaches classes in North Carolina and in Pensacola. Most of his classes in
Pensacola are at the Vickrey Community Center.
Besides classes for African drumming and dancing, he offers courses in acting, directing, theater movement, playwriting and creative writing. He said the company also produces stage plays, independent films and documentaries
Hurrey said the hardest part of pursuing a performing arts career has been the instability.
"It's that instability until you find that niche, and I'm still at that place," he said. "It's that instability until you get to the point where you are stable enough to support yourself."
Hurrey said that it is his love for the performing arts that has kept him going.
"You have to love it to put up with it," he said. "You have to love it more than love itself."
Hurrey said he still does not consider the moment he is making a lot of money the "big break." He said he considers the "big break" the moment he is able to support himself with his art. Although, he did say his ultimate goal is to be in movies.
Hurrey said that one of his most memorable experiences with the performing arts so far was during an African drumming workshop held at an African dance festival in Washington. He said the Kankouran West African Dance Company presented the festival every year on Labor Day.
Hurrey said he was in a room full of drummers from throughout the nation, and everyone was playing the same rhythm.
"I was just playin' and chillin'," he said with a big smile on his face. Hurrey continued by explaining that sometimes the instructor or lead drummer during a session like this chooses someone in the group to do a solo and take over as the lead drummer.
"I was just sitting and playing, and he picked me out of the gym full of musicians. I had never been an upfront kid," Hurrey said. "I was kind of midway back, and he picked me. And it just really felt good."
Hurrey said he wants his students to learn more from his classes than just how to play the jembe or how to do an African dance.
"When people attend our classes, they have a stronger sense of community," Hurrey said. He added, "I also want students to learn how the discipline of theatre and performance can translate into their everyday lives."
Self-esteem, self-awareness, cultural awareness and diversity and a better appreciation for the performing arts also are some goals Hurrey said he would like his students to achieve.
Fameya Cole, administrative assistant and performer for the company, said that learning not to be late for anything was a life lesson she learned from Hurrey's emphasis on discipline.
"I was always late for his classes, and he would always tell me how important it is to be on time and that it is even better to show up a little early," Cole said.
Cole, along with many of the other students and members of the company first became interested in it after Hurrey presented some workshops at the University of West Florida. Some of the company members, including Cole, were UWF students at the time. Others found out about the workshops through flyers.
Lala Moore said she was a student at Pensacola Junior College when she first heard about Hurrey and his company.
"I had started to play a West African drum that my mom had given to me, and then I joined the company after attending a workshop Ayinde held at the Festival on the Green in 2004 at UWF," Moore said.
Hurrey said his goal for Pensacola is to have the "arts" treated more like a business than just a hobby.
"I want to retrain the way we think about the arts and create more jobs for artists through Hurrey-Up," he said. "I also want to bring here more diversity with the arts and the kind of works being done, something that nobody has seen before."
Hurrey said his schedule in Pensacola has become more sporadic because of the past year's hurricanes, but he said he is planning on offering six week classes sometime in March and April.
To get more information about his company and his classes, call (850) 525-4420, e-mail ahurrey@yahoo.com, or go online at www.drumdancetheater.com.