Joseph Atsu Yao Dagadu West African Drumming Workshop 21st to 24th December 2005   Atsu Dagadu is an experienced drummer, musician and teacher with an impressive record of play and collaboration in Ghana and other countries.   He began at a very young age and was part of Lakoedje Cultural Troupe in Ghana, which won first prize in the lead and dance category of the Kiddafest Youth Festival in 1995. Atsu was selected to the Ghana National Youth Dance Company (part of the Ghana National Theatre), which performs traditional and contemporary dance and drumming. He was promoted to Chief Drummer and traveled and performed with the group in Togo, Benin, Germany, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. Atsu has performed for many dignitaries including Bill Clinton, Thabo Mbeki, Queen Elizabeth, Nigerian President Abacha and other African statesmen.   He has collaborated with various International and African stars including Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumpa, Bulbak, divine drummer Kofi Ghanaba, Heritage, Steel Pulse, Dance Factory, Lakoedje, Abibignomma, Odja and Borbobor. In South Africa Atsu has supported cultural workshops in Rustler's Valley in 2003. He is a master player and teacher of the traditional Ghanaian drum called the kpanlogo (pronounced pan-logo; the forerunner to the Latin conga), the African djembe drum and a variety of other traditional African instruments including the xylophone. Atsu was recently commissioned to run the African drumming workshops at Spirit Week at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town in September 2005. He recently conducted a workshop on kpanlogo at the University of Cape Town Music School as well. He led a mass gathering of drummers at the Cape Town Castle in September to launch the EarthWaterFireAir Festival and has been performing at various venues in Cape Town.. Since his arrival in South Africa in September he has collaborated with local musicians and has completed a recording backed by Patrick Dilley and the Team Spirit Band of which he is a core member. He is also collaborating with the band Re'Union, a project led by Duncan Mackay (10cc; Alan Parsons) and Greg Mc Ewan and also featuring renowned drummer Barry van Zyl (Johnny Clegg). Atsu's style of playing varies from simple to extremely complex and this comes across in his teaching style. Atsu's Cultural Background. He is an Ewe and hails from the traditional village of Akgorpor in the Volta region of Ghana where his father is village chief. Ewe can trace male ancestors to their original villages and make their territorial divisions along those lines. Extended families are the most important units of Ewe social life. The Ewe people are reputable for great drumming. They believe that if someone is a good drummer it is because they inherited a spirit of an ancestor who was a good drummer. It is their destiny to drum. Music and dance are a force in cementing social feeling among members of their society. In general, Ewe drums are constructed like barrels with wooden staves and metal rings. It is also possible to obtain fine drums that are carved from a single block of wood. They are played with sticks and hands and often fulfill roles that are traditional to the family. The child or baby brother drum, kagan, usually plays on the weak beats in a repeated pattern that links directly with the bell and shaker ostinatos. The mother drum, kidi, usually has a more active role in the accompaniment. It responds to the larger sogo, or father, drum. The entire ensemble is lead by the largest drum, atsimevu, or grandfather drum. The hierarchy of the drums is grandfather - father- mother - child, mirroring the society that they are a part of.   To book a place on this workshop