THE CALLING OF THE DRUM
LANGUAGE IN MUSIC


Most individuals associate music with entertainment and leisure. Through music many can achieve a certain mindset and relive some of their fondest memories. To the African people and members of the Diaspora, it serves as a tool for reverence and as a means of communication with their Gods.

Have you ever heard someone playing African rhythms on a drum and felt yourself being drawn to see who the person was and couldn't quite understand the reason why? There is power in the language of the drum, as there is power in the individual that is capable of directing energy through his instrument.

The following is an excerpt from John Miller Chernoff's book African Rhythm and African Sensibility. "Africans rely on music to maintain the happiness and vitality of their social worlds...music provides a focus for participation in social activities, helping people orient themselves to what they are doing together. In Africa, music helps people to work, to enjoy themselves, to control a bad person or to praise a good one, to recite history, poetry, and proverbs, to celebrate a funeral or a festival, to compete with each other, to encounter their gods, to grow up, and, fundamentally, to be sociable in everything they do. We may readily understand the reciprocity inherent in rhythmic call-and-response or the goal of connectedness in apart playing and dancing. But we also know that music teaches people to recognize and judge what is valuable in social and personal life.  From an African perspective, someone who "has" power is someone who is capable of directing his energies with a sense of purpose. In music, the contrasting, tightly organized rhythms are powerful - powerful because there is vitality in rhythmic conflict, powerful precisely because people are affected and moved. They also participate with power as a religious force. When Africans allow a person to become possessed or identified with power, as when they celebrate or praise a particular god whose rhythm "rides" or "comes up" to a dancer, they are using music and dance as a technique of religious experience, and as we noted, they do so most often under strictly controlled circumstances in the presence of a religious figure, a specialist at cooling down "hot" people. "

In Palo music serves as a language to the Ancestors. It proclaims the union of practitioners and calls on the spirits to join them in celebration and worship. Music provides us with a means to appease the Ancestors and assure them that we uphold our traditions and sing out loud as a testament to our beliefs.

Traditional drum music and song play an essential role in this religion. At Toques everyone is encouraged to participate in song and dance for their ancestors. In return some members of the Kanda or their Bakundi may become possessed during gatherings with the spirit of an ancestor or a spirit guide. If it is the will of a spirit, they will have you on your feet and dancing instantly. To participate in a toque in Palo, and to have the opportunity to partake in a celebration with your ancestors is one of the most rewarding experiences one can undergo.

Song is also an integral part of ceremony in Palo. There are specific songs sung during ceremony that are offered as a means to call on the Nkisi to accept an offering that is being given. In addition, when the Tata is engaged in preparing work there are prayers that are sung as he is preparing his hex or enchantment. This is called "Mambiando".

These songs and prayers have been handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. The Palo traditions are well kept in secrecy and have been handed down by practitioners verbally.  The songs have now become readily available on the consumer market from stores that specialize in the distribution of traditional Afro Caribbean music.

The language of music is just one of the many traditions upheld within the Palo Religion.