Story of the Drum Part One The Sisters

In a dark time of pain & sorrow the drum came as a present.

A friend found them and left them waiting for me to choose at One Thousand Villages (a store filled with articles from all over the world sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee).

There were two drums - a light skinned & a dark skinned. Sister Drums.

It was a difficult choice . . . the dark skin was mysterious and deep . . . the white was light and brilliant sounding . . . after much deliberation the dark was chosen . . . A few days later having decided not to separate the sisters I returned to the store and brought the light drum home to her sister.

They lay dormant for many months and came joyously to life when a skilled drummer from Barcelona visited and participated in a project which required the sisters. He awakened them in a wonderful month of play & improvisation as we worked on a project called Volcano: An Abstract in Silk. The project was a journey about living the questions.

As is the way with projects & groups & life, decisions led to demanding choices. Jealousy led to the sister drums being separated. In fact, the dark drum disappeared. I feared she would never return.

The light coloured drum resided in a temple occasionally playing in the rich gold light and spent a winter in shock not used to the northern cold. Just when all hope was lost - like a miracle - (after a year) the dark sister magically appeared at the door . . . afraid, lonely & hurt . . . It was not an easy meeting . . . their contact was fragile and restrained . . . fraught with coldness & suspicion.

It was decided that they would live apart, for the moment, & so the dark one moved to a loft overlooking the city & the light skinned played in the temple.

In the summer of 2002 the light skinned found herself in the hands of a group of caring, young, gentle spirits . . . She drummed like she had never drummed in her life . . . She thought of her sister and longed for her return to share this hot summer time which reminded her so much of her motherland Kenya.

So it came to pass . . .

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