A lost tradition
An instrument of the ancient Greece, the frame drum is enjoying renewed favour as a way to find peace
Jeremy Rifkin recently described our times as being characterised by a Promethean spirit, a restless energy that preys on shortcuts, unmindful of the past and uncaring of the future. The earthly rhythms that characterise a more pastoral way of life have been shunted aside.
Except that people have been trying to shift our cultural values for some time now in the search for inner contentment, and they have been looking to the East. The abundance of Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation centres represents a quiet, spiritual revolution that is against values based on technology and materialism.
However, a new way to find contentment is now emerging and we don’t have to look as far as Tibet. Layne Redmond, author of When The Drummer’s Were Women, is single-handedly reviving ancient Cyprus’ practice of frame drumming and she is using it for it’s harmonious effects on the mind, body and spirit.
Through the exploration of ancient Greek history, the practice blends meditation and rhythm to create community spirit, connection to nature, empowerment and femininity, ultimately creating an ecstatic state of harmony. Rifkin’s Prometheus is now being cast aside in favour of the ancient Greek goddesses of nature, and his earthly rhythms are being reborn through revival of this ancient ritual instrument.
Hand held frame drums are among the oldest known musical instruments and Aphrodite’s temples were renowned for their frame drummers. In ancient Cyprus, the practice of drumming was used as medium of communication and a way of exploring human consciousness.
In her book Redmond, leading percussionist, drum historian, has uncovered the history of the frame drum and is bringing about its rebirth. Last May, Redmond was invited to Cyprus for an intensive workshop. Since then a frame-drumming group has emerged whose members are now re discovering ancient rhythms.
Evie Lanitis and Marina Demetriou, co-directors of the Tao Centre in Larnaca, are responsible for bringing Redmond to Cyprus after reading her book. When The Drummers Were Women, has been widely read around the US and Europe, creating a renaissance in frame-drumming around the world, although ironically, it is only now reaching the Mediterranean, where it first emerged.
“It’s so rare that we have a popular book on the spiritual history of rhythm that refers to Cyprus. Layne refers the Chirokoitia Neolithic settlement near Tochni, she refers to Aphrodite’s Temple in old Paphos as being on a par with the Oracle at Delphi and she refers to the Cyprus Archaeological Museum saying that nowhere else of comparative size in the world have so many female figurines playing the frame drum,” said Demetriou.
A large number of exquisite terracotta figurines which are thousands of years old, have been excavated in Cyprus. They show the frame drum clearly depicted in the hands of women. A number of these are on display at the museum.
“These figurines show that this technology for synchronising mind and body through the power of drumming and rhythm was very much alive and part of ancient Mediterranean life,” Demetriou added.
The first frame drum came from the tocha, the grain sieve, which is still in use today. The theory is that the women were sieving grain together while sitting in circles. By sieving they discovered the tocha’s sound and a rhythm. They put a skin over it and it became what we know today as the Tamboucha, or frame drum.
Demetriou is one of the frame drumming ensemble in Cyprus who meet regularly for practice. “I reconnect to a lost heritage. When I first picked it up, I could play it straight away, I felt like I’d been playing it all my life.”
When played with hand and finger techniques, the frame drum has a long, clear, ringing tone with many audible harmonics.
Demetriou explained that the practice works on many levels. Four different strokes on the drum are used to align oneself with the four elements, Earth, Fire Wind and Water. Research has revealed that this is an ancient practice where lost civilisations from the South America to ancient Greece would try to evoke these four elements to bring harvest.
On one level, the drummers combine these different strokes to balance their own internal elements, on another their rhythmic steps from left to right, (as they play standing) balances both the left and right side of the body.
“This helps synchronise both hemispheres, creating a sense of joy and openness and creativity. Taoist medicine observed many centuries ago, that many of the ills people are experiencing today are a result of disharmony. With the frame drum we learn to move and play rhythmically in unison. This is part of the transformation helping regulate the whole body down to a cellular level”, she says.
It is also significant that the frame drummers play in a circle. This evokes community, equality, promotes democracy and fairness and hence harmony. “The members in our drum circle come from all walks of life. Drumming together unifies and harmonises our collective rhythms and that’s what drumming is about, unity through rhythm for all people.”
The practice requires focus on doing four different things, moving left and right, holding with one hand, playing with another and all the time thinking about rhythm.
“You need concentration, focus and delicacy. This is not a bongo. It’s definitely a feminine instrument,” says Demetriou. In the ancient world, people were connected to and in awe of nature. Demetra, Gaia, Aphrodite were goddesses of nature, she said, and while the ancient Greeks viewed nature as being feminine, they wanted to evoke the feminine energy of nature, to evoke mothernature and to connect to the earth.
Mousa, is the ancient Greek word for muse, from which the word music derives and muses were often portrayed in ancient Greece as playing drums. In The Odyssey, Homer appealed, “Sing in me Muse, and through me tell me your story,” while Plato used musikos to refer to the qualities of being, “well educated and versed in things of the mind.”
By focusing on the power behind rhythms, the practice of frame drumming, promises to lead to a creative transformation and a state of euphoria.
“When you look at the images of ancient Greek women playing the frame drum, they all looked orgasmic, their body language is open, fluid and free. They were in ecstatic states,” said Demetriou. “They were natural but dignified images. Something that is rare when we look at images of how women are portrayed today.”
Redmond is recognised as one of today’s most exciting performers on the frame drum she returns to Cyprus for her second frame drumming retreat later this month.
The Rhythmic Path of Creative Tansformation: Drumming workshop. A frame drumming retreat with world renowned percussionist and author Layne Redmond. November 18-20, and 22-24. Paphos area. For more details contact Marina Living Tao centre. Tel: 24-652 968, [email protected]
