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HUMANS of DJEMBE – Part 23 – Benjie Williams ( Newcastle)

By July 13, 2016Blog

“How amazing is djembe!? I live for it. I just love it! Through it, I’ve met wonderful people and travelled to incredible places. And it’s a journey.humans of djembe 23

I started mine with a drum circle in 1998. Just a small group of friends, drumming in a park. We had a teacher, John May from Hands Heart and Feet in the Blue Mountains.

If you have met John, you’ll know he’s one of the most amazing men to have ever walked the Earth. In a way, he became a mentor. He taught me djembe, but through djembe, he taught so much more. Life skills, community-building skills, love for people and how to facilitate the passion that people have for rhythm. He taught tolerance, acceptance abundance and how to have a wicked time without drugs and alcohol. What I experience through performing was unbelievable and better than any drug.

Watching Epizo Bangoura entertain a large crowd for an hour with just his voice and a djembe flicked a switch that has never turned off. Since then, djembe was a way of life.

Now, I have thrown myself into being a djembe teacher and Drum Circle Facilitator full time. And business is booming! I’ve grown and so has the business. Earthen Rhythms has gained a reputation as an exciting, uplifting drum circle creations from Preschools to Adults to Corporate environments, it’s going off. I’ve fused my experience of African Rhythms with Arthur Hull’s Drum Circle Facilitation & Playshops. It’s a flowing rhythm ride of structure and free form beats that allows the unlocking of the Human Spirit. It’s joyous to watch. I now work with kids right through to our Elders, the sick and the well, the strong and the weak.

Everyone loves rhythm. I’ve seen it support the depressed, give purpose to those who have lost the will to live and I’ve seen djembe ignite passion in those who have lost their way. This is what I love it and this is why I play!”