Vodou drumming clinic shares Haitian music, culture, history
We All Break instructs attendees to sing along at the Haitian Vodou drumming clinic. Photo by Bilan Osman.
Gary Davis, Contributing Writer
The sounds of traditional Haitian drumming echoed throughout the James W. Black Music Center Recital Hall on Sept. 27. Participants gathered on stage with percussion instruments in hand and joined in rhythmic expression.
The Haitian Vodou drumming clinic hosted by Ches Smith and the drummers of his group We All Break was free to attend and open to anyone, regardless of prior experience.
Vodou, pronounced “Voh-doo,” is the religion of the Haitian people, according to Daniel Brevil’s website, a We All Break member. Vodou drumming is an expression of the Vodou religion.
Brevil has studied Haitian music and culture over the past 25 years, he said. At the clinic, he helped guide participants to play along with their own instruments.
Vodou drumming played a big role in the Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1804 as a unifying force, Brevil said. The flag of Haiti features the motto “L’Union fait la force,” which means “Union makes strength.”
Vodou is stigmatized in America, perpetuated by zombie movies and other forms of media as synonymous with negative black magic, said Markus Schwartz, a We All Break member. In reality, Vodou is ancestry, spiritual connection and all the forces of the natural world.
“It’s not inherently negative,” Schwartz said. “It could be used in a negative or a positive way, the same way that you could say that the word energy could be used in a negative or a positive way.”
The people of Haiti struggle with an onslaught of harassment from outside forces to this day, Schwartz said. The Dominican Republic closed access to its border with Haiti this year, claiming that Haiti broke a treaty from long ago, leaving Haitians with no access to a river that runs through their own country.
“If you go there now, the Haitians are coming together to put their strength together to build that canal without proper tools and without trained engineers,” Schwartz said
Drumming sustains them as they work to access the water, Schwartz said. At any protest or march, you will always see people drumming in one form or another for the same reason.
“People show up because even without understanding why, they just innately understand that there’s a power of unified force within rhythm and rhythm instruments,” Schwartz said.
Vodou drumming and its influence aren’t as widely known in the United States as other countries’ musical offerings, so it’s especially important to teach people about the art and culture of Haiti, Schwartz said.
“There’s so few of these sorts of things being offered,” Schwartz said. “There’s so few people like Daniel Brevil in our country who have that ability to really expose the depth of the beauty of the culture.”
VCU student Connor Loftis was one of the attendees of the clinic. Loftis had no exposure to Vodou drumming prior to the event, he said.
“I would really be interested to find out more about the roots of Haitian percussion and the music and the dances that all combine to create this really great percussive experience,” Loftis said.
Rhythm exists in anything, like the movements of flames of a fire or the cyclical motion of ocean waves; music is a universal thing, whether it’s in natural occurrences or deliberately put together, Loftis said.
