Batá drum and dance of the Yoruba, Nigeria, West Africa
November 8, 2007 1:52 PM   Subscribe

Learn about the powerful, complex Batá drumming and dance tradition of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Check these 6-to-8 year old Batá drummers laying down the groove. Then theres the Egungun action going on over in Ibadan, to the accompaniment of Batá drums, of course.

Slaves brought the tradition to Cuba, where it has thrived, with, of course, some stylistic changes along the way. Here's an example. And here.
posted by flapjax at midnite (8 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
man, that makes me want to shake my bag of bones!
posted by vronsky at 2:00 PM on November 8, 2007


Those kids drumming are amazing. The cell phone dancer kid needs a hobby.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:04 PM on November 8, 2007


Rippin!
One ocean away...cut a bata drum in two...take high pitched part get tamborim...get 200 of them, add glitter and foxes...BAM! Humans suddenly make sense.
Flapjax,
This on top of Delmore brothers...got me suddenly liking our species again.

posted by greenskpr at 3:29 PM on November 8, 2007


I meant BAM!
posted by greenskpr at 3:32 PM on November 8, 2007


wow, I loved that! In the first video when Tunde Ojeyemi introduces himself as a dancer and goes straight into a back flip, that was so cool. Cute little Ideyat Ojeyemi and the damn talented young boy drummer. Funny to see the kid craving attention showing off his cellphone, like so many grown-ups doing the same here in NYC!
posted by nickyskye at 4:18 PM on November 8, 2007


Yeah, nickyskye, those self-introductions by the members of the troupe at the the end of the first link are great, aren't they? Totally charming. And that's gotta be the best timed, completely unexpected backflip EVAR!! And did you catch, then, the 3 backflips in a row in the Egungun link? Wow!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:24 PM on November 8, 2007


great, thanks
posted by johnny novak at 11:06 AM on November 9, 2007


What an excellent post - I love African drums - late to the party, but I am glad I didn't miss this. Thanks Flapjax!
posted by madamjujujive at 2:02 PM on November 25, 2007


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