Did you know that in Europe in many places when the percussion masters perform thousands of people pay to come and see them play. Thousands. They are not “sitting in” or playing for free. They are respected. You can see video after video on Youtube. It is amazing. Why not in the USA? Try to get a gig as a percussion group in the USA and see what happens.
When you tell someone you play djembe now almost always, if the person knows the word djembe, they will say, “oh I saw that in the park” (or at the beach), and their only association is a free for all. They have know idea that the drum is a musical instrument. It’s something they saw at a “wild scene” or on TV used as a prop with a book on it in someone’s apartment. When you say you play congas people still say “bongos” and when I was a kid it was a Ricky Ricardo association from the Lucy show.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with jams I am saying this has become most peoples only association to the instrument unfortunately. Even other musicians will assume you do not know what you are doing or know how to play if you tell them you are a djembe player.
The viewer of the outdoor jam session, only seeing a large or small group of people playing frantically has zero idea there are compositions, orchestrations and deep meaning and the drum is used to bring people together in unity. That it is a very deep art form. That the djembe or conga drum takes a lifetime or more to study and it has deep musicality and purpose way beyond people casually beating on it or banging out their frustrations on it. It is a musical instrument used as a unifying element in the community and therefore a healing tool as well.