8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com 831 “This is going to be a funshop,” Sanga of The Valley tells a group gathered on a gray and chilly Saturday in Sand City’s Art Park. The participants—mostly adults, but also one member’s 10-yearold daughter—pick whatever instrument they fancy and sit in a circle outside. “I don’t like the word ‘workshop.’ If you are not having fun, you are not going to learn.” “Fannshop” could easily be another option. Sanga, a Trinidadian drummer, arrived from New York City for his annual visit to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur. But he’s also here to help Jayson Fann, the founder of the School of Sacred Rhythms, kick off a master series of Saturday percussion workshops in Sand City. Fann is an artist and percussion teacher. The workshop invites people of all ages to practice a couple of Saturdays per month with master drummers from all over the world. He promises such talents as Beyonce’s drummer Marcie Chapa or Def Leppard’s Rick Allen. “It’s a place for me to host those master percussionists,” Fann says about his “organic residency” at the Sand City Art Park, where he has been using a cargo container as a polytheistic temple for his drums—hundreds of them, big and small, brought from Africa, Hawaii, South Korea and China. “The master drummers come not only with practical knowledge, but also with historical knowledge,” he adds. “Each of them brings a piece of the puzzle.” The puzzle or “the research,” as Fann likes to describe it, is the origin of contemporary music (rock, jazz, blues, hip-hop) preserved in rhythms that originated in Africa and arrived in the U.S. with enslaved people, through Cuba, Puerto Rico and Trinidad to New Orleans. As they interacted and evolved, these rhythms crawled from the Delta up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, slowly penetrating the continent. According to Fann, African traditions survived in the music of today and its rhythms are still essential components of social movements. Both Sanga and Fann were longtime students of Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji, who worked with such stars as John Coltrane and Miles Davis and was part of the civil rights movement. “I met Sanga at the Big Sur Deli when I was 16 years old,“ Fann says as we sit in a circle. “I didn’t remember this. I told him a couple of days ago.” Sanga laughs and nods, completely relaxed with a big drum under his legs. He tells a participant that he can’t wear a wedding ring when he drums because he will ruin it. Then he tells all of us what to do with our arms and legs. “You are like a zombie right now,” Sanga says when the workshoppers start paddling dry in the air. “There is no life in your body.” We move to the “base,” “tone” and “slap” movements of the hand. These are the fundamentals. “No matter who you are, you have to do this. No matter how good you are, it’s never there—you have to bring it to you.” The workshop lasts two hours. When it starts, it’s still a chilly midday; while we are drumming, the sun comes out. “Now everybody says: ‘godda godda, goon goon goon,’” orders Sanga. “Bring the drum into your inner thigh. Stay calm. Stay with the drum.” Rhythm is universal, Fann notes as he explains the importance of the drum in all cultures. “The drum is our first instrument—the pulse, the heart,” he says. People in different countries play the drum a bit differently, but the differences are not as striking as the scales or tuning of each musical culture. Drumming, Fann believes, is a natural bridge activity across cultures, a common ground to find mutual respect. Just like those rhythms, we all came from the same African homeland. The second workshop in the School of Sacred Rhythms took place on Aug. 20, with dancer Kora Griot and cultural ambassador Fode Sissoko from Senegal. More workshops are coming soon, including Afro-Cuban rhythms with Aptos-based Javier Muniz. School of the Sacred Rhythms takes place at 10am on selected Saturdays. At Sand City Art Park. 525 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. $50. facebook.com/jayson.fann. Beat It Sand City’s Art Park now houses the School of Sacred Rhythms, a drumming workshop for all. By Agata Pop˛eda From left: Jayson Fann, Sanga of The Valley and Leonard Han being brotherly in the Sand City Art Park, where the School of Sacred Rythyms is located. “The drum is the pulse, the heart.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE COURTESY OF JAYSON FANN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==