•
News
•
South
Africa
Spectacular Drumming Event Expected to
Draw Thousands!
On May 6th, starting
at 7pm and continuing into the early hours of
May 7th, One World Beat and "Eden: A Walk
with God" present a spectacular "Drumming
in One World Beat" event in the Heartfelt
Arena, Pretoria. Last year, 2006 co-organizer
20000 Drums ("Transformation through Celebration"),
linked several exciting South African drumming
events with the activities of One World Beat 2005.
A
drumming circle of 450 people, known as "Klitsgras"
(www.klitsgras.co.za),
and 60 drummers of the "Heartsong" gathering
performed the day before the start of OWB. Five
hundred schoolchildren took part in the drumming
event organized by the 20,000 Drums nonprofit
itself (www.20000drums.org.za).
This year, 4000-6000 people are estimated to participate
in OWB 2006, according to organizer Elize Thesner,
who is also an OWB Global Coordinator. This number
will include people who are differently-abled,
as well as schoolchildren and youth affected by
poverty and HIV/AIDS.
South
Africa's 2006 hour of drumming will be between
12am and 1am. The event starts at 8pm (doors open
at 7pm), and entrance tickets are R60.00, which
are available at Computicket. Don't miss it, or
you'll miss out, and don't forget to bring your
own drum! For further information, contact Elize
at elizet@oneworldbeat.org
or 084 597 8993 (office hours only).
This will be great practice for
what will hopefully be one of the biggest drumming
events in history, now being organized by 20,000
Drums. The "vision" includes introducing
drums and drumming to some 18,000+ schoolchildren
in South Africa, culminating in an event which
will gather them into a Johannesburg stadium for
one day of united drumming. Residents of the city
will also be included, bringing the total to 20,000.
This visionary nonprofit also
conducts drumming workshops in schools, meant
to empower learners and educators through creativity
and teamwork. Learners and educators attend facilitation
and leadership training courses, too, and apply
their new skills with peers and within the community,
which will encourage broader participation.
Poetry is an essential element
of this project, because it provides a platform
for dealing with the emotional issues which so
many of these young people face. The drumming
too provides an emotional grounding and healing,
and is a proven stress-reducer, which these youth
need to support and encourage them as they meet
the daily challenges of their lives.
The
mission of 20,000 Drums is to encourage personal
empowerment, moral regeneration, social cohesion
and community development, skills transfer and
job creation. As one participant so eloquently
put it: "If you can walk, you can dance.
If you can talk, you can sing. If you have a heartbeat,
you can drum." Please contact Samantha Skyring
for more information (samantha@20000drums.org.za),
and join these and other partners participating
globally in "Drumming in One World Beat 2006",
helping us all to create "transformation
through celebration". To rent a drum for
this not-to-be-missed event, contact Venessa Clark:
+27 72 625 9591 (in S. Africa).
|