It’s about time I hear you say! Well here it is my first solo percussion piece. Umoja is a Swahili word that means unity, togetherness, union, oneness and harmony – Enjoy!
I was originally asked to put a rhythm track together for an event called ‘Percussion for Peace’, an online gathering of percussionist’s from around the world. After the event I continued to explore this idea realising that peace often comes about through a journey into unity. I wanted to somehow tell a story through rhythm of what ‘Umoja’ might look like. The initial track had been recorded so quickly, I decided to add more sounds and continue delving into this theme of ‘Umoja’. I wanted to explore the potential of each nation’s sound working together, creating beauty and strength.
The musical themes I have created start with a bell – symbolising a call to gather – for those of faith, a call to worship. It is rung 8 times, the number for new beginnings. I have used percussive sounds that imitate our natural surroundings, the wind, rain, birds and animals (the art of percussion may have started through people copying the world around us) – a hint that everything has a part to play in this hope of oneness. At first the rhythms are abstract and seemingly random but soon they start finding their place and they create a new diverse expression based on the rhythm of Seven, the number of continents and for some, a perfect number. As each new sound joins the rhythm, the song builds in strength, suggesting that there is power in togetherness and it finishes with all sounds finding a single rhythmic pattern, a sense of powerful agreement to walk in unity into the unknown.
