I don’t know about you, but I find myself increasingly impressed by the seemingly endless videos on Facebook showcasing the miraculous and remarkable djembe and conga drum players. The speed, sound and power they achieve are nothing short of incredible. I often wonder, “how on earth do they get this speed”? And also, where their skill comes from and how they manage to produce such impressive sounds. It’s truly mind-boggling, especially when I examine their technique. I know they put in countless hours, are 100% dedicated and have great teachers. They live and breathe the drum 100%. I know, I have been there many times and witnessed it in Guinea and Mali West Africa, Brazil and Cuba.

As I personally continue to learn, practice and sometimes struggle to attain the sound I desire, even after over 50 years of playing and studying, I can’t help but notice how advanced and effortless it seems for these djembe and young conguerros (conga players). This comes from the hours they put in. Their playing is so fast that, honestly, I can’t keep up—I find myself much of the time getting lost in understanding their phrasing; it’s beyond my ears and mind’s development! Some of it I am getting after years of listening and studying over and over. This illustrates just how far djembe and conga drumming has come.

And at the same time, I see practice videos, instructionals for technique and the focus on speed, flash and how to get rolls rolling and so forth and so on, and I wonder, “is this how I want to spend my time drumming and studying”?

What I want to learn and play is distinguishable phrases framed with space, balanced djembe solo techniques with a little bit of everything, not just super fast rolls and solo chains, phrases that are connected to each other and lead out of each other. But this is just me. Please understand, I am not saying the other side of the equation is any way wrong, how could I ? I love it and it’s great stuff. It’s just too far beyond me! What I am also saying is I am not hearing or seeing the super interesting feels, the bends, the pushing and pulling, the mind bending warping and morphing of rhythms that happens at arguably somewhat slower speeds. There is a great older album called The Art of Jenbe drumming I highly recommend.

When I listen to albums like this and also, artists like Bolokada Conde, M’Bemba Bangoura, Soungalo Coulibaly, Famoudou Konaté , or the legendary Abdulye Diakate, Karamba Diabate, and Moussa Traore, *(to list only a few) I find immense joy. The same goes for my teachers in Mali Aruna Sidibe and Brulye Doumbia. Personally, I gravitate towards their music because I studied with most of them (except Famoudou and Sangalo), and it represents what I grew up listening to as a young man and the particular tradition I studied. I can hear the phrasing more clearly; when I was learning, it may not have been considered “old school,” but it certainly feels that way now.

Given that I may never reach the incredible speeds and physicality of the current generation of drummers, and since I struggle to comprehend many of their intricate djembe solo riffs and phrases, I’ve chosen to focus on the “classics.”

I appreciate how these teachers utilize space and phrasing in their playing. It’s not as supernatural fast as the younger generation for sure. But I can hear and understand the language much easier. And please, I’m not criticizing the newer players; instead, I am simply curious about how others experience and study djembe music. I acknowledge that speed is a significant aspect of this art form, but I wonder how it fits into the broader landscape of appreciation and learning in djembe drumming.

I know in my heart of heart, in my brain and my intuition tells me that everything boils down to basics and rudiments. Anything complicated can be broken down to it’s simplest elements as well.