sabar drumming at MIT
Top: Associate Professor Patricia Tang founded Rambax in 2001. Middle: Professor Tang drums with Lamine Touré, co-director of Rambax. Bottom: Members of Rambax, along with members of the Senegalese drumming community, drum together over the summer in MIT's World Music room.
Bŕkks and polyrhythms:
Rambax, members of which are pictured at left, is a Senegalese drumming and dance ensemble that studies the art of sabar, a musical and dance tradition of the Wolof people of Senegal. Rambax (pronounced Rahm-bach, a vocal mnemonic for a signature sabar rhythm), was founded in 2001 by Associate Professor of Music Patricia Tang. Since 2002, Rambax has been co-directed by Tang and Lamine Touré, a Senegalese master drummer and Artist-in-Residence at MIT. Tang has recently written a book on the tradition, Masters of the Sabar, published in 2007 by Temple University Press.
A sabar ensemble such as Rambax consists of numerous rhythmic beats that come together to form complex polyrhythms. The accompaniment, played on several different drums, forms the musical fabric upon which the lead drummer embroiders, while the rest of the ensemble plays musical "bŕkks," musical phrases derived from a spoken word tradition.
In Senegal, sabars are played exclusively by a hereditary caste of musicians known as griots. At MIT, Rambax is open to any member of the MIT community interested in learning the art form. According to Tang, this sets the group apart. "Unlike many of the other musical groups at MIT," Tang explains, "you don't have to have years and years of training to join Rambax. We've attracted a number of students who don't have extensive musical backgrounds, and it is great for them to be able to come in at the same level as a student who might have more experience. It provides a rare opportunity for an MIT student who's interested in music to just start learning an instrument in a fairly low pressure environment."
In recent years, Tang and Touré have also been building bridges between the vibrant West African drumming and dance community in and around Boston, and the academic community. This fall, the group will collaborate with dancer Cheikh Ngom, and drummers Yemougor "Paa" Seck and Babacar "Moha" Seck, among other local practitioners.
Rambax's activities are not limited to MIT. In the summer of 2005, Rambax members traveled to Senegal, where they spent three weeks playing and studying sabar and absorbing the Senegalese culture. During this trip, students lived and practiced with Touré's family, all members of the griot caste. Members were also able to meet and speak with students from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal. "Students were able to get a true sense of where this music comes from," Tang explains. "It was a really wonderful, and in many cases transformative, experience."
On December 8th, Rambax will be presenting a "Takusaanu Dakar," an evening of music that will feature both Rambax and Group Saloum, an Afro-mbalax band headed by Lamine Touré. The concert will take place in Lobdell Hall at 8 p.m. All are welcome—especially future sabar players!
