“This week, we are going on a safari…a journey together,” announced Teli Shabu, lead artist of The Magic of African Rhythm.
Fifth-grade students traveled on their safari at Chatham Grove Elementary with Teli Shabu (pictured, above) and his team of artists last month, exploring the different parts of Africa (North, South, East, and West) through dancing, drumming, storytelling, and art.
Each fifth-grade class rotated through spaces throughout the school that hosted these different art forms, working with a different artist each time.
“I liked that the workshop had a bunch of different activities to do and we weren’t learning the same thing the whole time,” one fifth-grader shared.
Room 1: Adinkra Art
In the Art room, students learned about adinkra, block printing with stamps. Each stamp symbol represented different themes in African culture like compassion and connection. Students worked together to create an adinkra cloth full of their chosen symbols. Sister Sky (pictured, above) worked closely with students in the art room.
“Everyone is going to put their energy into this piece and this school will hang it up for all to see,” explained Teli.
“[I liked learning that] a heart [stamp] in African language means ‘patience and faith,’” one student said.
Room 2: African Storytelling
In the Storytelling room, students worked with Sister Joy (pictured, below) to learn about the West African folktale, “Zomo the Rabbit.”
After hearing the folktale, students used recycled objects to create a musical, rhythmic telling of the story. Students represented the different animals in the story in small groups: big fish, wild cow, and leopard.
Each group learned distinct rhythmic patterns for their animal. After some individual group practice, they layered the rhythms in groups together to tell the story.
“We want all the rhythms to speak together,” said Sister Joy, the lead storytelling artist.
Afterward, they discussed the wisdom Zomo the Rabbit learned from his experience in the folktale. Several students shared their answers: “Be careful. Think twice about what you’re getting into. Wisdom is not free. Always think before you act.”
Room 3: Djembe Drumming
In the Drumming room, students worked with Brother D to learn how to play the djembe drum.
The session began with a call and response song to explain that the drums are from Africa, made from a carved tree, and covered in goat skin with rope.
The fifth-graders easily fell into learning rhythms from Brother D and giggled as they participated in more call and response.
“What I liked most was the drums because they made me feel energized,” a fifth-grader shared.
Room 4: Delightful Dancing
“In this class, we are a village. We are a family,” said Sister Dizzy, the lead artist in the Dance room. Students learned an entire dance combination, layering moves like a pyramid.
“Dancing was surprisingly more fun than I thought. And so was storytelling. We got to use recyclables to make rhythms. All the other ones were really fun, too,” shared a fifth-grade student.
“I liked that the workshop teachers accepted that we were new to what they were teaching us and took it slow but made it fun at the same time! I also liked that the teachers were so passionate about what they were teaching!” another fifth-grader commented.
A Collaborative Performance
On their last day, the artists of The Magic of African Rhythm performed for all the third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders.
“In Africa, we do things as a village—so you’ll be learning and working with us today!” shouted Sister Mabinti from the stage. She explained that the audience would be learning words and instruments from the Malinke language of Western Africa.
During the performance, the audience learned about the instruments on stage as the artists played them.
Students learned about the timpani, a tall drum; the kora, a stringed instrument; the shekere, a large shaker; and the bala, a xylophone using gourds for vibrating sound.
Each time an artist introduced a new instrument, the audience repeated the name of the instrument in a way that mimicked the sound of the instrument.
“It sounds like a heartbeat!” a student whispered when the performers explained and played the drums.
“[It was surprising to me] that most of the instruments I have never heard of before!” one student said.
The performance ended with lots of dancing, including some teachers and visitors up on the stage!
“I LOVED watching the performance. It made me really happy and I am excited for [future students] to experience this, too,” shared a fifth-grader.
The residency at Chatham Grove Elementary School was sponsored by Mayme Boyd and Dr. David Nichols. This residency is part of the Chatham Arts Council’s Artists-in-Schools Initiative.
Arts for Resilient Kids programming is made possible by partnerships with Chatham County Schools, Chatham County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and many individual, foundation, and business donors. If you feel inspired to help us educate kids through the arts, click here to donate.
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