Telon Weathington
Staff Writer

The distinctive rhythms of Nova Scotia’s four founding cultures assembled together on one stage using drums to show their unique musical heartbeat.

Together the Aborginal, Black, Acadian and Celtic heritages used music, poetry, prayer and dance to stir up emotion, bring traditions together, and celebrate different heritages.

“The show evoked a lot of emotion and feeling and a couple of times it brought tears to my eyes, especially during the praying and singing,” said Kathleen Kile, a mailroom supervisor.  “Even though I couldn’t understand the words to the song I still felt like I understand what they were saying.  I felt the music and I felt the drums.”

The show “DRUM!” featured about 20 performers and each of the Nova Scotian founding cultures received time in the spotlight before they all came together as one at the end.

“DRUM!” received a standing ovation when it was performed last Wednesday in the Bridges Auditorium at the Claremont Colleges.

About twenty different drums were on stage and the lights that flashed colors of nature glowed as the Octagon screen showed the audience pictures and words that went along with the show.

The show featured other instruments besides the drums, for example whistles, fiddles, guitars and even pots and pans.

The gathering of rythms was like an electrifying musical heartbeat.  The dancers in the show helped to grace the stage with their elegant body movements and the visuals were like a pulse that held everything together.

They danced along to instruments such as the bagpipes and they changed clothes according to the theme of the music.  There was even a segment when the dancers had a tap dancing solo.

There was never a dull moment during the performance.  The show had given viewers lots of variety but it all seemed to blend as one.

The audience really enjoyed the segment that featured gospel music. This part of the show featured the sounds of an organ, voice and drums lead by Dutch Robinson and Jeremiah Sparks.

“The best part of the show was Mr. Robinson’s voice,” said Lorrie Kirke, an inventory analyst.  “It was totally awesome.”

 There was a drum-line that consisted of three people and when the lights shut off you could see the pink and green radiance of their glow-in–the-dark drumsticks.

“There was one thing I didn’t like about the show,” Kile said.  “There were not enough people to experience it.”


For more information about “DRUM!” visit www.drumshow.ca.

Telon Weathington can be reached at tweathington@ulv.edu.