Skin that Speaks: the "talking drums" of Nigeria | Michael Varner | TEDxUTA
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 เม.ย. 2015
- The Yoruba people have a fascinating family of musical instruments called talking drums that "speak" the language. Presented will be a newly composed work that combines the essence of the talking drum with European Amplified Bassoon making a unique combination and listening experience! the presentation introduces the cultural aspects of the talking drum.
Dr. Varner has been Director of Percussion at the University of Texas at Arlington for 34 years. He holds a degree in Music Education from Bowling Green State University, a Master’s in Performance from The University of Michigan, and a Doctorate in Performance from The University of North Texas. With a long history as an educator he has given presentations Internationally. He draws from 40 years experience performing repertoire to the highest standards. In 2014 he released his latest CD “reVelations” featuring his own compositions. Excerpts from Dr. Varner's performances can be seen on TH-cam.
His interest in world music led to a sabbatical in Nigeria and “Study-Abroad” classes to Ghana. His article “Skin That Speaks” was published in the 2013 Percussive Notes Journal. He teaches all percussion and world music courses at UT Arlington. He has presented Percussion clinics in every state, Europe, and Japan and has over 20 commissioned compositions published internationally.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
I am a native Yoruba man, and I think he tried. The issue though is that the talking drum is supposed to speak (in high proverbs for that matter) and for that to happen, you must understand the language in ALL its GLORY, in all its POSSIBILITIES, only then can you even start learning how to play the drum. Personally I would have hoped they would have found a real tribal player to at least show the absolute power of the instrument. I sincerely pray the people in the audience don't assimilate this performance as what these lengendary drums should sound like, and in there my dear friends, lies the problem with this ATTEMPT.
It didn't sound right the pitch, speed and rhythm leaves a lot to be desired? Good effort though .
He did try but he mixed it with his own culture
Well said
Ah guess is caz him first name is........ doctor !
The intention is genuine... I’m a Yoruba base in Chicago. Good job sir. You did well for a foreigner interested in our culture. Thank you sir
This is an exploration of instruments with the 'Talking Drum' - Gangan taking the centre stage. I applaud this man and his team for researching on Yoruba culture and for boldly presenting a musical piece on the Gangan drum. It must have taken them time to learn the culture let alone how to play the talking drum - for this I say thank you. The world is now a global village - it is only wise to encourage others to learn about your culture for preservation and continuity. A Big Well Done!
You are quite ignorant and try to see racism where there is appreciation for culture. Leon is correct, and I appreciate his open-mindedness.
@ Green Greener - How sad! I can see that you haven't learn any pleasant ENGLISH words with all your years in mental racism imprisonment. I believe this has resulted in your inability to reason effectively or feel the love (Correct me if I am wrong).
Mr 'Green', if you can only look on your 'Greener' side, you will find that the man in the video couldn't have been the one who 'colonised' you on whom you express your bitterness. For this reason, I dare you to THINK for once in your miserable life, even if it will be the only time you would ever do so and probably the very last time.
Please ask yourself; what have you learnt about this culture you claim? Or how many (if at all) of this culture have you published as a contribution to the global community? So, unless you speak or reason through your "Ass", would you not feel the LOVE from other taking interest on Yoruba culture. STOP HATING! post your video too.
Jesus still loves you and the men in the video!
@flerpyDerp Thank you and God bless you as you spread the love.
@Green Greener
Leon Adeleye I saw it on the game theorists
The music begins at 9:51.
It really doesn't though... the painful random sad noises start around then.
Because he doesn't understand the tonality and rhythm of the drum and the language, only native speakers can.I tell people a language like yoruba isn't spoken you have to sing it so picking up the drum and learning it in a few days wont help,many families learn it exclusively as their profession and it takes at least 5 years of practice to become averagely good.
@@romz5330 I am going reply in yoruba, gbayi ore mi.... I am yoruba I don't know if you are tho but that means you just spoke sense my friend
yes of course.
percussion instruments is well arranged and played
@@BoopSnoot certainly right
I appreciate what was done here. I'm Yoruba myself and I didn't know there is an history attached to the drums or that the drums represented something like a family 😂. And I see these drums like every week. I learnt from this and it was a nice display of knowledge. Ese gan sir🙇🏾♂️... Means, thank you very much sir😊
Shekere oni lo si ode ibanuge, Dr. Varner oni bawon re ode ibanuge. Shaworoide toba bale amiaro, shaworoide. May your life always sound melodious like the sound of shaworoide. You will never die as long as dead animal skin continues to speak like human. Am a Yoruba man, and am so glad to see the most precious drum of our fathers with you. Thank you so much. Greetings from Nigeria 🇳🇬👋
It might have helped if he'd said a little bit about how the Yoruba language works--that words and sentences have a melodic contour and the talking drum talks by imitating that melody. You can have one word mean different things depending on whether you go up in pitch at the end, go down in pitch, or keep the pitch even. I studied the talking drum for a while and studied Yoruba at the same time. My Yoruba speaking was a source of great amusement to a Yoruba friend: if you don't get the pitch just right it can sound like a lot of nonsense. It's a tough language to learn. But I stuck with it, at least got to where I could go up to a Yoruba person, play "se da da ni" ("how are you") on the drum and they'd respond "fine, thank you" (I think it was "modupe"). I also got to where I could play melodies of Yoruba songs on the drum, which was easier. Ultimately I figured out that even if you learn the Yoruba language, you have to learn the proverbs and the Yoruba musical repertoire because that's what the talking drummer is playing during a song. The whole project of learning this would have taken years and years so I stopped, but it was a very good experience and opened up my ears when playing Western music.
Thank you so much for this background information. It was really informative.
I lived in Iseyin, a small town in western Nigeria from 1965-67. It was the center of the bata talking drum and in two years I heard drumming-all night every night. And I loved it. I don't mean to be disrespectful to this presentation but it does not represent the music of the Yoruba. An "oyinbo" cannot do it, even with years of practice.
+Carol Storm
At least he tried and it wasn't a bad effort. A lot of us yoruba couldn't do what he did including me!
+Tolani Idowu - Are there many young people (Yoruba) in Nigeria who are learning from the traditional drummers? Iseyin when I was there was the center for drumming and people came from the US and Europe to record the music. They white guy on the video was not anywhere near what the drummers were that I heard. And I don't think mixing European instruments is adding to the quality of drumming alone. I like the other videos i found on TH-cam of modern Yoruba groups. I hope the old music can survive. Ekabo and ahse. Do you know the song "Babalawo mo wa bebe.. Olungungun toshe fun me lekan. Olungberi..."?
Carol Storm I agree that in this particular case, the combination was not particularly clever. As for younger people taking up drumming, I would be the wrong person to comment. I left Naija quite a while ago and because i have never been into that kind of music, i guess a very small selection young people who are born into the trade may carry on the tradition, but very few. As for the songs you mention, again i have no idea, I was born in the UK and had to learn Yoruba quite late on so have never really got into the genre.
+Tolani Idowu I direct you to my channel to listen to my Yoruba life cycle musical composition. Of course having grown up in 9ja myself, and later getting my degree in Western music in California, I have been able to incorporate our traditional sounds into the western classical genre. My goal is to help bring Yoruba tonality to the western musician. The style he composed is very much a 20th century atonal style. It is actually a good piece in its right, although I agree that it is an unfamiliar genre to many Nigerians.
I direct you to an amazing Oyinbo who actually did just that. In your TH-cam search engine, type in 'Kayode Oyinbo', and get a beautiful surprise. Not only did Kayode play the bata drum well, he is pretty fluent in Yoruba, with excellent tonality and pronunciation. Enjoy!
Thank you very much!
I’m an Ayan descendant and I so much appreciate this 🙏🏽
I wonder why we complain about everything. A foreigner came to learn from a different cultural background, just like the english language that we pay a lot to learn for many years, the question is do we ever speaks it exactly like a typical english man does? See this man is a world class music researcher and he has done a fusion style, the idea is to showcase the relevance of the dundun drum with other western instruments that could play a relevant role in an ensemble in a Call and Response manner mostly. Just see the exercise as a performance. In addition he was able to give a brief account about the drum. Now this is a cardinal challenge to all the omo onilu everywhere the need to come together and present the world a documentary on this unique traditional drum instrument. Consequently what this performer has done would be sampled and classified in keyboard synthesizers, other band keyboards and electronic drum machines and still sell it back to us uhnn! it is time to wake-up to reality of life and stop criticizing the foreigner's efforts.
I agree with you Gbenga 100%. We Africans needs to wake up and they really showed us tough love. They mostly see a problem and solve. I believe God is calling us to start representing.
You mean the English our ancestors were forced to speak at the expense of our own native languages?
@@gretchenfrancis5678 love?
Nice exposition of the Yoruba musical instruments, Good job Dr. I also commend your attempt with the combination, but the guy on Omele handled it well!
You have to be in the academics, music and research field to appreciate this beautiful work.
Hmmm
Perhaps the most depressing use of a talking drum I've ever seen, props to him for exploring cultures but as a Yoruba, the talking drum is a free flowing improvisational thing, not a rigid scientific instrument.
Exactly ..
exactly
Agreed. But what more could anything become through the hands of these insipid people, except it be rigid, overworked and completely removed from its original character?
Adam James lmaooooooo
oyinbo try take over everything
This is full of good intentions. The cringe worthiness is not that he's trying to appropriate yoruba music, etc. it's the fact that he took out all the joy and improvisation of the actual music he's representing. Look at the four in the back, are they just doing this for a grade? lol. Anyone who's seen an actual yoruba ensemble knows that it's way more lively than this aka It's music for dancing! And writing sheet music for a talking drum? Come on man...
I appreciate his 'privilege' in taking time off to go study, and share the info in a TED Talk, but I can't see any serious Yoruba drummer playing along to/ with this / that would at least give it more credibility.
especially because we are gentiles.
Why say anything negative, let the man enjoy the culture.
I dont know , i think it would be great for it to be in sheet music and have it orchestrated. I think diffrent kinds of music should be combined. It dosent always have to be traditional... This was cringey though.
I was thinking that it was kind of bland
Well done! How wonderful.
Lol... what is he doing? Hahaha
That is a powerful drum he is wilding, capable of trance.
He is thinking too much. He needs to drink, feel the rhythm, incantations and ‘Beat that drum like there is no tmr’
😁 Kai
This is so cool. I love that funky synthesizer/moog sound the boy playing (the one that is like a sax) seems to have!
This is an AMAZING term work! Thank you, Sir.
A million respects for this effort. Thank you sir
Beautiful!
They did a great job. I love their passion and commitment. Thank you sirs.
They didn’t do a great job. It was terrible
"The shekere is something very rarely seen in the U.S." In my experience, it's a very common instrument in the U.S.
The company Latin Percussion even manufactures fiberglass versions of it. Yes, it's not hard to find a shekere in the US.
Opening; "I am glad that you have decided to join ME" not US or at least properly introduce all the people on stage
Thanks Michael Varner. I love the piece and your introduction to contextualise it. There are some ridiculous comments below which I suggest are best ignored.. My take is that you come from a Western Art music tradition and you have created a piece, within the afore mentioned tradition , but with instrumentation / instruments from the Yoruba music tradition (the bassoon being the only exception). I also greatly appreciate the fact that you allocated some time in explaining to the audience about the origin and cultural tradition of the Yoruba instruments- so i dont know why some folks are talking about 'cultural appropriation ' - not every thing is about slavery and colonisation.. I would like to see more of such instrumentation in the Western Art Music tradition as long as longs as their origins and history is told... The musician was not trying to replicate traditional Yoruba music with this piece.
onyinbo guys well done ,thumbs up sir
Well done Dr Varner and the band.
It was a great work done
Amazing research with superb acuracy! I am from Ayan tribe and its like he lives with us! Welldone
Beautiful, Thank you for taking the time to present this.
Interesting. Enjoyed the bassoon particularly.
The shows is very good and it's good to have passion in the arts! It's me, Sule Shangodoyin.
sule shangodoyin togo
Please take my comment as a perfect assessment of this piece. Prof did an excellent job on the drums. Fantastic presentation and good use of the drum. How he holds the drum, the sticks, accent or whatever critic you all have, especially for those criticising him, is completely immaterial. Well done sir.
Gangan speaks. Well done Prof. Awesome
Good exposure of Yoruba Culture and Music.
seems like a fever dream
It’s amusing how the Iya ‘lu drummer holds the stick like he wants to play golf!
I’m laughing appreciatively!
Thank you.
As a Yoruba he try sha!
so amazing.
this was insightful thanks❤
Dunno why there's so much venom in the comments. He did his best, he would've just been better advised to make Yoruba music. Bassoons and w/e this ensemble is attempting is so foreign to us. I don't recognize the drum. The fact that he doesn't speak Yoruba certainly doesn't help either. Good effort, sha.
indeed. the amount of hateful arrogant idiots always surprises me. especially under videos like this...
His wrong description of the music allows the parameters of the evaluation of the music to change. As a yoruba rhapsody, it is utterly embarrassing, but as a kind of newage jazz, it's okay. It's like comparing your amateur home made painting to a Picasso right in front of world class art historians and collectors.
THEN LISTEN TO SOMETHING ELSE. OR: SQUINT YOUR EARS 😡😡😡
@@amybotone3990 exactly
As an FYI, often in formal music school, be instruments or ideas are introduced to the public in relation to other instruments to show it versatility. You might want to listen to it again from a different perspective.
i don die
I wonder wetin he dey beat..... lol, I hope Ayangalu from Ibadan will not see this....lol
+Sam Adebayo #English
I wonder what he was beating...lol, I hope the master drummer from IBADAN Nigeria doesn't see this because it is super funny. (hope you got it now)
Daniel173901 That's pidgin, a dialect of English
Sam Adebayo I may not speak Pidgen, but I understand enough of it to know what you were saying.
Its ok folks....I have interpreted what the drums are saying in this piece. They are all shouting "HELP US!" LMAOOO I can't!
lmfaoooooooooooooo lawwwwwwwd asin
funny
Excellent Piece of work.. You have made yet another Ile-Ife person proud..
impressing
Love this! At least the electric bassoon is a great and an original addition to African music. why NOT 😻
"The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree." is the way I always heard it.
You are very correct. Proverbs are products of creative minds. However, we can continue to create more and recreate in a way that add values to the art.
Amazing
O je ohun itiju pe oyinbo lo tun n ko wa ni asaa wa,omo Yoruba ti sonu.E joo eyin omoran e je ka pa t'esin ti Ede ati asaa Yoruba se koko.Yoruba Language must a compulsory course of study in Nigeria schools.
This sounds just like the drums we now hear in Trap Music and African Amapiano. Seems the talking drum was inspiration for the new age.
Informed theory, good, however very clinical and academic playing, not the loose rag time, unbridled energetic passionate performances i witnessed on my travels and time in Nigeria.
Please, looking for African Drum Festival videos and Saworoide movie by Tunde Kelani. There are powerful uses of the talking drums there.
Fantastic
Thank you sir for your effort in bringing gangan, ilu, omole and shkere to the west. Olohun ama ranyin lowo o pelu awon omo yin o,ashe lagbara olodumare.
there was an attempt
No bad feeling! It is better than hatred from distance in ignorance of the other culture
the fact its written is so sad. just jjjjjaaaaam dude
Although I appreciate the passion he has towards the Nigerian Yoruba people and the musical instruments, I find it deeply off-putting seeing a non-native teach Yoruba culture. Cultural appreciation is always positive however one must not get ahead of themselves. Had Tedx hosted a Yoruba person FROM Nigeria, the show would have been significantly more impactful. It is not your culture to steal nor it is your culture to preach. His attempt at playing the talking drum was fair however the instrument is never played so "robotically" as shown in the video. Fair attempt however it's important we learn to educate ourselves on cultures whilst still appreciating the culture WITHOUT stealing from the culture.
BOOM!
Click here to skip the pretentious blabbery: 9:46
It is time to fight for what belongs to us
I don`t get why a White Man studying African culture is "sad" u should feel a sense of pride that some one chooses you`r culture to present
PandaTurtle+ You DO realize that "sad" comment was made by a "white" supremacist, don't you?? Yet your silly response, presumes to be addressing an African!!!
jihanjae lol yeah idk why he don't realize that shit
I am very happy that this academic studied the musical instruments from Nigeria to show the rest of the world..we need more of that
I guess we should also be happy that we were colonized.. Somebody chose our continent too yeah 😂.... Look in simple words.. If you want to know more about Africa and its instruments.. ASK THE AFRICANS 🤷♀️🤷♀️... Our music, style, dance, is something that can't be studied.. It may be traditional.. But most of these things including drumming were ways of releasing frustration and pain.. So we drum and dance from the heart cause its natural... IF👏 YOU👏 DON'T UNDERSTAND 👏 THAT 👏 STAY 👏 AWAY 👏 FROM 👏 THE 👏 CULTURES👏... And I said CULTURES because Africa has more than a hundred thousand cultures.. Which is again what people are still struggling to understand
Proud? Why exactly? Do I need others to imitate what I do for me to feel good about it? Some of us obviously have self esteem issues.
I THINK THE MUSIC WAS A POOR ATTEMPT BUT I THINK HIM TRYING TO EDUCATE PPL WHO WOULD OTHERWISE NEVER FIND AFRICA INTERESTING WITHOUT AT LEAST AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CULTURE THROUGH MUSIC IS A GOOD START. I WISH HE COULD HAVE BROUGHT THE PPL FROM AFRICA WITH THE DRUMS AND CULTURE TO SHARE AS WELL BUT MAYBE HE WILL SPARK A FIRE IN PPL TO SEEK THE ORIGIN OF THE MUSIC AND THE PPL ALONG WITH IT. I WOULD HAVE RATHER SEEN FILM OF HIS TRIP AND HEARD THE MUSIC FROM THE PPL OF AFRICA INSTEAD OF HIS IDEA OF BLENDING AN INSTRUMENT THAT DOES NOT COMPLIMENT THE AFRICAN MUSIC. IVE NEVER HEARD OF THE TALKING DRUMS BUT THANKS TO THIS MAN WHO FOUND SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL THAT HE WANTED TO SHARE IT IN A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COLLAGE , I CAN GO FIND WHAT HE FELL IN LOVE WITH FOR MYSELF , ITS A GOOD START AND YES I AM WHITE IN CASE YOU WANT TO KNOW.
I thing your caps lock is stuck.
it's like techno music
l so much love culture
Get a Nigerian on FFS!
What kind of instrument do you play? I play wind chimes.
It's called FUSION, you haters (of any skin color).
?
Example of outside in vs. inside out. And: appreciation. I am inspired to hear and learn from the people of Yoruba. I knew nothing about this art and communication before. Thank you for the inspiration! 💖💖
Good research work. I can understand if the basun instrument is for marketing purpose for western audiences, it did not compliment the yoruba percussion music, not in any fashion.
sorry can I ask what is the instrument on the right side like a huge bamboo pipe?
Hello, i am a sound engineer, the music mix Speaks the culture fully. There is more to be done to the mix, nice job. In case u need the real mix, contact me, am in chicago.
one ow "brilliant "
They performed well. However, to have full experience and feel of Africa talking drum, search Africa talk drum and see "dead animal that talks like living human"
👍
Dr Mike....you did a good job by playing the iya Ilu...good music but the instrument by Dr Skort Pool is out of place in the set up...!
Why wouldnt you use the people who culture it belongs to introduce there culture...
Unsupervised children
Just come send master to come play it, abi?
Despite being Yoruba, I just got schooled.
Nice one,i am a lady talking drummer, can I join you guys?
First view
5 minutes in and the drum hasn't said anything yet; I'm outta here.
😂😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😄😁😄😄
🤣 i cant. This guy seems so sweet though🤣
The English named it "talking drum" being imitative to human talking,...confusions with non European languages had turned other languages to "vernacular" and ridiculing other cultures till the millenials are accepting global culture through social media
YOU turned something Sacred into a 'show'.
oh lord. Yal see the veins coming out of his neck? he trying real hard to beat that drum. more like the drum is beating him. ain't no proverbs coming out of that drum o!
Would have preferred a proper explanation and demonstration from a native drummer
oyinbo try take over everything
This sounds like bunch of 8 years old trying to jam on their 5th music class, when the teacher went to the toilet.
It also kinda sounds like someone was messing around with a "music maker" where they just string some loops together and it ends up sounding incredibly disconnected.
Lmfaooiio these commenta
Martin Hriibek You are not vast in music
You got me cracking up with this.
dis banna name..... his first name is dr.
My only problem with this is that this talking drum is about improvisation and this man wasn't doing any improve at all. Otherwise, this was good.
WAKANDA FOREVAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
This is a good attempt at showcasing the Yoruba culture and should be commended. However, it takes only the initiated to deliver the real impact of these instruments. Yoruba drums are family trade secrets. Proficiency requires that you are first born into the family (Ayan) and years of tutelage.
shame on us africans instead of writting nosenses comments first be proud , second try to bring our culture abroad and the last advice stop being selfish even you couldn't been proud of our tradition how many buy our local artists's albums?
but every day we buy american' s stars song , we travel every year to learn other people's languages and behaviors and when somebody come to take our own that we leave to promote it, we start talking rubbish..
all my respect to this man
thanks for a rare kind words. so many negative emotions around here...
The emperor has no clothes.
to think massa took these drums away out of fear
Revisionist history. If you're out on the porch of your mansion, and its daytime, you expect your slaves to be working not sitting in drum circles. And if its nighttime, are you going to let your slaves bang on drums while you're trying to sleep? C'mon now.
Rubbish. Any forms of what would be considered old world communication was banned. That is why they split groups up. Just like people weren't allowed to be in a cluster, the fear of rebellion. The drum was just another way of communicating.
I really want to be positive about this, I see the good intention but this whole thing is problematic man. Appropriation 101. Go over to Naija learn something, bring it back, change it, sell it. You don't have to exploit everything just because you enjoy it and to be honest just based on very recent history you probably shouldn't be allowed to. That being said, i guess the musical space was kind of interesting, I wouldn't say pleasing to the ears or understandable but, interesting enough and I definitely understanding that Mr Varner is contributing another perspective which I can respect.
IKU
He played it like a nollywood drama scene 😂 he should’ve been more upbeat
We abandon our own culture and imbibe theirs while they tell our stories for us to the world. What a shame.
Yoruba dun lasa
Please don't say "of Nigeria", talking drums are widespread in West Africa.
Nothing like that of Yoruba.
It’s solely Yoruba’s it’s our culture
You guys tried but you actually liked the yoruba vibes lol.
I'm Yoruba... This was sad to watch. You should have hired an actual Ayan to show off that drum.
another one who cant read, expect something and never gets that as it was not even an intention of this video... "Presented will be a newly composed work that combines the essence of the talking drum with European Amplified Bassoon making a unique combination..." If you want to see presentation of the drum go to some video with presentation of the drum. It is that simple.
We learn their English, they learn our culture. We are not perfect and they are not, however, we both have fun, enjoy it, learn and get better👍😀
Oh please don't touch that talking drum again!