For Young People
Bringing out the drummers
Port Hedland is an energetic town of 15,000 people in the Pilbara region of WA. The original custodians, the Karriyarra people, call the place Marapikurrinya for the hand shaped formation of the tidal creeks coming off the natural harbour. South Hedland is a residential and service town for Port Hedland, 20kms away.
African artist, Kojo Sam Adjei taught local young people how to make African drums using goatskins and recycled oil drums. The young crew got into all aspects of making the instruments from stretching the skins to decorating the drums. Meanwhile African Dance instructor Fiona (Funky Boots) Haasz swapped some dance moves with the crew to create funky dances with an African flavour to accompany their new drumming skills. The creative juices were flowing for the final performances, where some unusual costumes and dance sequences were performed on the beach in ankle deep water. The week-long workshops ended with a screening of a short movie of the drum making and the performances at the local disco.
With mentoring from the RYADO, the young people were successful with YCulture Regional funding for this project.
Getting into the groove at a drumming workshop
Photo by Rachel McKenzie
Dance instructor Fiona Haasz leads the dance performance at the water's edge
Photo by Rachel McKenzie
Beating the drums with Kojo Sam
Photo by Rachel McKenzie