Bullerengue Workshop: Drums, Dance and Jam Session

Two workshops that explore the Afro Colombian rhythms of Bullerengue through Dance or Drums. To complete the day we will invite you and your friends to a Jam Session for you to show off what you learn and share with the Drum collective of Mbilla Arts and their drum group. Africa & Latin America together to enjoy and celebrate the sounds and vibrations that put our communities together.

All levels welcome

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Drum workshop: you will understand the importance of rhythm and percussion as healing tools, do an exploration of the drum and its sounds as a first approach to percussion and learn the basics of the Afro-Colombian rhythm of Bullerengue sentao.

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Dance workshop: a creative dance session inspired in the Afrocolombian rhythms including Bullerengue sentao’, chalupa and Fandango. We will explore and connect with our inner selves while playing and discover the musicality of the rhythms and expressions of our bodies. Our heart and feet will connect with the root of everything, Pachamama.

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Jam Session participants will be able to try what they learn in an open jam session that will bring together musicians and other people interested in the music. Mbilla Arts drum facilitator Seneke Sillah and more people will join to play their drums… Dancers are absolutely welcomed to show off their skills.

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THE ARTISTS:

Valeria Pacific, will be directing the drum workshop. She is a percussionist dedicated to studying and performing Bullerengue and AfroColombian percussion. She is one of the leaders of Akolá Tambó, first bullerengue group in the UK, and co-founder of Bullerengue Circle, a collective using bullerengue as a tool to find self-awareness, understand our inner rhythm and connect with our creative selves (@bullerengue.circle).

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Deny Ruge, will manage the dance workshop. Master in dance and performing in arts from Nariño University in Colombia she has dedicated her live to teaching and performing folkloric dances. She is the founder and director of Somos Chibchas a cultural association involving dance, music, visual arts and theatre, focused on research, practice, preservation and diffusion of traditional Colombian culture and dances. Based on the study of old and new rhythms mostly focused on traditional dance movements and how they influence new dances developed for different genres of music. (@Somoschibchas)

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Seneke Sillah Mbilla Arts’ lead musician and a founding director of the company. Seneke was born in The Gambia in West Africa and from an early age demonstrated a talent for playing mbalax, the traditional music of the Wolof people of The Gambia and Senegal, which is played on sabar drums. He was mentored in the art of playing djembe by master drummers including the late Thomas Camara from Guinea. In 2006 he was a co-founder of Mbilla Arts CIC, an African performing arts organisation, and is now the company’s lead musician.