An exciting eleventh-hour addition to the attractions on offer at Splashy Fen Music Festival in Underberg 13-17 April will give revellers of all ages the ideal opportunity to discover and enhance their ‘inner rhythms’ at the gathering’s first-ever dedicated Drum Village. It has been announced that one of the marquees sponsored by SA Breweries will be the venue for Talking Drums and Friends – a more than 30-strong collective led by Michael and Tracey Chananie – to host a series of interactive percussion-based workshops, dance performances and body- plus fabric-painting encounters for the duration of the festival.

This extravaganza gets under way on the opening. Thursday evening with a facilitated drumming session which will climax in a FyreStorm dance performance. Saturday and Sunday will each witness on two or more occasions between morning and night technical workshops, Poi/Staff/Magic Sticks workshops, Learn-A-Rhythm sessions, Interactive Facilitated Drumming circles and Body-/Fabric-Painting workshops in addition to yet more FyreStorm dance performances. Late-night gatherings will feature guest artists and pre-recorded drumming music, while youngsters under 13 will have access to the Montessori Kids’ Drum Workshop for an hour before lunch each day. More than 120 handmade drums and other percussion instruments will be available for hire at a nominal fee per session, and those festival-goers who bring their own will enjoy half-price entry. Costs of the various painting options will be determined by the materials used.

Talking Drums is the Drummond-based lifestyle project of Michael and Tracey Chananie and which has become increasingly well known and utilised in very different spheres of society since its formal inception two years ago. Michael makes the three-piece slatted djembe and ashiko drums from alien woods and – as lead facilitator with wife Tracey assisting plus taking care of business – has seen his vision of individual and interpersonal growth through drumming extend to more than 10 000 schoolchildren throughout KwaZulu-Natal. Two schools in the Drummond area now boast fully-fledged Drum Ensembles which receive the ongoing benefits of continuous assistance from the Talking Drum family.

An impressive number of tertiary institutions and high-profile corporate entities have also engaged in team building, co-operational and motivational exercises via interactive drumming sessions where each participant is directed to “listen to the rhythm of your heart”. These encounters are “not shows”, Talking Drum is quick to point out, “because we give each person a drum, encourage them to become really involved and are satisfied only when the entire group becomes the performer and we the facilitators become the audience”.

Before taking part in the Talking Drum experience at Splashy Fen, visit www.talkingdrums.co.za to learn more about their regular scheduled Drumming Circles, team-building skills for your educational facility or business, or to purchase one of their exquisitely handcrafted percussion instruments. Everything you ever wanted to know about the ‘Ultimate Outdoor Experience’ – past and present – is but a click away at www.splashyfen.co.za.

Mike & Tracey Chananie
Talking Drums
Tel: 031 783 4551
Fax: 088 031 783 4551
E-mail: admin@talkingdrums.co.za
Web: www.talkingdrums.co.za