Drum Circle

Had been for the Shamrock Festival that was held in Pune this month. Even though it was a two day affair, the turnout was more on the second day, being a Sunday.

Songs were played on request by different band groups.

There were many stalls for games, but the eatery stalls were competing with each other (I found a lot of Chicken Lollipop counters)

Attractions for kids were in all shapes and sizes.

Children enjoyed playing their own games – sort of custom made as per their age.

I liked this display of paintings. It looked kind of fluorescent. It was encouraging to see people buying them.

There was even a Photo Booth where you could pick up the props, get decorated and get clicked.

The outcome is some fancy and colourful photographs.

One of the counters: A game for married couples. As the poster says, it will give you a fairly good idea of how well you know your partner.

But what fascinated me the most were these drums.

This was the first time I witnessed the “Drum Circle”

It was conducted by Arthur Fernandes. He says that he is just a facilitator for the people who play the drums. 

The people sitting in the circle are no expert drummers but housewives, college students, school teachers, a real motley crowd.

I even spotted a Clergy and a Sardarji. I am sure all of them are holding a drum in their hands for the first time.

Arthur believes in the therapeutic power of music. He gave up his HR Executive’s job in an IT company and started with music therapy. His Masters in Psychology helped him to understand people and their needs.

What I liked about Arthur is that he enjoyed what he was doing.

His enthusiasm and involvement was contagious and that was reason enough for all participants to be “in sync” with the beat of the drums.

Some of the keen observers were the young and the very young.

On the first day I was a part of the circle, but it was difficult to click and play the drums simultaneously. So I visited again on the second day to get some good pictures, and to listen to the drums. (anything to do with music is OK with me)

I found that the seats were getting overbooked and extra chairs had to be arranged.

Managed to get some good footage and edited and compiled it to a small video.

Hope you enjoy the Djembe as much as I did. (when you see the video you will know what a Djembe is)

You can see the video by clicking on this link or on the picture below: