Above are two drummers alike in each working to keep an old tradition of drumming alive, by demonstrating its power and beauty in performance. While in Bahrain to speak at a meeting on Globalization and Arab Higher Education in1999, I went on invitation one evening to hear traditional musicians perform. I sat with the ten or so musicians, on the floor, our backs against the wall, ringing the small, ancient room. When the music began, I listened and drew. The left drawing above is one of the musicians I drew that night. He seemed lifeless and very old but each time a piece of music requiring his drum would begin, he would come to life and play spiritedly until it ended. The subject of the drawing on the right, was a woman performing in a small group at Riverside Church one Sunday, and as she was drumming just in front of my my choir seat, I listened and drew her, recalling as I worked, my years in Uganda, and the many drummers and dancers whose performances I enjoyed there.

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