NEW! African Drumming Classes for Kids and Adults/Teens start Saturday, September 20, 2008!

Djembe Drumming Articles, Essays, Reviews and Interviews by Dr. Lilian Friedberg

Lilian and Nankama Drum Core member Katie, from March 24, 1996
TV documentary "A Different Drum" on FOX 29, Minneapolis, MN

NEW! Hooked On Drums:™ Our Founder's Vision
Essay on the influence of music and caring individuals in the life of Dr. Friedberg and the at-risk youth served by our new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Hooked On Drums.

"Djembe: Drum with a Thousand Faces,"
Percussive Notes, the Journal of the Percussive Arts Society, Volume 31 #8 (1993)

"Teach the Children: A Report from the other Side,"
Percussive Notes, the Journal of the Percussive Arts Society, Volume 34 #1 (1996)

"Heritage,"
an autobiographical essay (1999). This piece is a submission to an (as of yet) unpublished book about women in drumming, edited by Jaqui MacMillan.

"Where It Began: A Tribute to Silvia Kronewald"
The late Silvia Kronewald was a key member of Famoudou Konaté's European ensemble, and a pioneering djembe drummer and teacher who helped establish the European djembe scene in the '80s and '90s. This piece is a submission to an (as of yet) unpublished book about women in drumming, edited by Jaqui MacMillan (1999).

Review of "Guinea: Malinke Rhythms and Songs" CD by Famoudou Konaté,
in African Studies Quarterly (online) Volume 4 #1(2000): http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v4/v4i1a15.htm

"Rare German Radio Interviews with Famoudou Konaté,"
translated from the German and introduced by Friedberg, Percussive Notes, the Journal of the Percussive Arts Society, Volume 39 #6 (2001)

"Drumming for Dollars: The Bottom Line Between Appreciation and Appropriation"
--revised and expanded version of "Running in Vicious Circles: Racism and the African Drum," Race Traitor, Number 5, Winter (1995), which was reprinted as "Stealing African Drums" in Colors Magazine, June 2, 1997. "Drumming for Dollars" version forthcoming in Fall 2003 in the anthology Bearing Witness, Reading Lives: Imagination, Creativity and Cultural Change, edited by Gloria Anzaldua and AnaLouise Keating

"Manger Malade: 'Eating Disorders' and the North American Drum Community,"
a contribution to the conference, "Cultures in Motion: The Africa Connection" at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (2003).