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Circling Back to Community - Arthur hull and Baba olatunji: The friendship at the heart of the modern drum circle movement
The hypnotic slaps, thumps, and crack of the drum have taken a turn that permeates the core with dissonance. Chaos ensues and the previous moments of harmony give way to a nerve-twitching racket. Waving his left hand high, the facilitator calls out, “I like choc-o-late” (dum clack, bom dun clack!). To the right he conducts, “I like straw-berries” (dum clack dum slap slap!”). To the middle, “I like coffee” (dum clack boom!). Eyes closed, each player focuses on his or her section’s rhythm. For a moment, all one can think about is chocolate, strawberries, or coffee, until suddenly, the harmony returns. Hands seem to move of their own accord, repeating the phrase. The facilitator jumps from left foot to right, holding the downbeat, offering rhythm reminders, and sustaining a grin that could crack open the sky.
The modern drum circle was reignited in the United States through the passion and influence of a nigerian-born man, Babatunde Olatunji. In Atlanta, Georgia, on a Rhodes scholarship in 1950, Olatunji decided to devote his talent to reinvigorating America with the traditions of sound and community. Along the way, Olatunji’s work attracted Arthur Hull, a college student who became his devout apprentice, and a key participant in the unfolding of what has become today’s thriving drum circle movement. (Hulllater honored Olatunji for bringing African musical elements to Western music in his book Drum Circle Facilitation—Building Community through Rhythm.)
What is drum circle facilitation? Where in society is it happening? And what are the implications of the re-emergence of this energy-movement-art?
Hulls states simply, “The definition of facilitator is ‘to make easy.’” Drum circle facilitators use their experience and awareness to make easy any gathering of individuals united and interacting through rhythm. Drum circles are gaining presence in nearly every segment of society, and they are arriving with institutional backing. Thanks to medical researchers like Dr. Barry Bittman, CEO and Medical Director of the Mind-Body Wellness Center, drumming has been shown to strengthen the immune system, improve mood, and ease tension, anxiety, depression, and anger.
These scientific results are tied to the “brain balancing” that takes place while participating in collective drumming. Hull explains, “We mostly live our lives from the left sides of our brain, because that is where our analytical thinking processes comes from. While drumming, we’re involved in alternatively using left and right hand patterns while participating in an activity that requires you to pay attention to the rhythm that you’re playing, while … reacting to the constantly changing, ‘in-the-moment’ rhythm that surrounds you in a drum circle event.” He continues, “Thus you drum from a more centered and balanced place [which] … can then be easily translated from the drumming experience into how you live your normal, everyday life.”
Photo of Rita Tawiah of the KusunEnsemble.com: Tyler Blank
According to Remo Belli, founder of Remo Drums, “One of the biggest shifts that has come along with the drum circle movement is a welcoming for everyone to come and participate.” Much like dance, drumming has become an accessible art form, a communitybuilding activity that connects us with our bodies, our spirits, and with each other.
Facilitated drum circles are welcomed throughout our society, playing roles in settings that range from corporate team building to criminal rehabilitation. In schools and hospitals, facilitators are bringing joy, community, and ability to thousands of people with physical and developmental challenges. Since 1993, Hull has trained over 3,400 people to become drum circle facilitators in the United States, Asia, Europe, and India
Remo facilitator John Fitzgerald leads hundreds of people in rhythm at a community drum circle in Hong Kong.
We return to the drum circle in the context of our globalizing world. That a person from the U.S. can train students in Asia, who then carry the torch of drum circles to the Middle East to foster peace speaks volumes about the potential for drumming to create both small and large-scale harmony.
Before Olatunji’s passing in 2003, Hull asked his teacher, “What would you like to say to the growing number of facilitators who are coming forward and fulfi lling this need in the community?” Olatunji’s response: “The great teacher said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, that they shall inherit the earth.’ Facilitators should rejoice in the fact that they are messengers. They are given an opportunity to be the one who is called upon to help build the bond that exists between people.”
Learn more at www.drumcircle.com and www.remo.com
Arthur Hull and Baba Olatunji forge their friendship through a shared passion for drumming and community. 