Different Drums Lovin’ it and lappin’ it up

I heard a wise woman say, the drum is the heartbeat of our nations. Listen to my heartbeat.

By John Nixon

On summer evenings Lambeg drumming competitions or sessions were regular in Armagh’s Gaol Square. In 1968 me and my father stopped to observe the spectacle. The Lambegs or “batteries” as we called them were beautifully painted in bright colours, with emblems and portraits and battering them with thin sticks were thick set Protestant men with faces as red as bowls of blood. My dad knew them well and socialised with them. On this occasion Ian Paisley had joined the event and exploited the lull to rant out his litany of hatred against Catholicism and O Neill. “Empty vessels make the most noise”, said my dad as we moved away quietly. He wasn’t referring to the Lambegs.

For most Catholics the Lambeg is a tool used by Orange bigots to antagonise ‘Taigs’ and proclaim Unionist rule. Someone described them as drums with the worst PR in the world. But will it always have this association? Different Drums changes and challenges such perceptions and uses our musical traditions as a means to promoting greater understanding and tolerance…yes, and enlightenment! The idea for the project germinated after its co-founder, Derry man Roy Arbuckle, attended a week long workshop organised by the Japanese Kodo drummers in Derry. This led to experimentation. He was joined by friends, who like himself had a good grounding in the musical scene in Ireland. In came the Lambegs and bodhrans. Roy purchased two century old Lambegs from a shop on Belfast’s Sandy Row. The bodhrans were commissioned from Ardoyne craftsman Eamonn McGuire. An African Djembe drum and a Long Drum (as well as congas, bongos, doumbeks) were added and this gave the music an international dimension.

With a Community Relations Council grant the group began to experiment and perform at cross-border and cross-community venues. Things could only get better. They performed at an Irish festival in New Brunswick whose theme was ‘Come and Celebrate Orange and Green’. They took with them 100 Irish people. Since then they have played for President Clinton at the White house, they have entertained Tony Blair, Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson. In 1998 they were invited to the St Patrick’s Parade in Dublin, played at the Odyssey Belfast, and performed before and for local communities, workers, and reps. The highlight of their career (so far) came in 1999 as part of a ‘Both Sides Now’ tour they toured with James Galway and Phil Coulter.

They have returned to the USA since to perform alongside famous entertainers such as Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Sharon Shannon and Mary Black. This month they completed a mini tour of America’s Mid-West taking in Wisconsin, Michigan and Lake Superior.Different Drums have played in the staunchly republican Short Strand and in the equally staunch Unionist Portadown Town Hall. Everywhere they have performed they went down fantasticly. With drumming, songs and music they have mesmerised audiences as far away as Japan.

They now produce a marvellous array of sounds and rhythms; reggae, reels and jigs, marches, piping and chants, the latter blending with the sounds of different drums. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. They have met opposition from some republicans in Waterford who objected to the Lambeg which they perceived as symbol of ‘British imperialism’ while in Belfast skin-head thugs took exception to their music and its ethos.

But like it or not the Lambeg even by its very nomenclature is as Irish in origin as ‘Faugh a’ Ballagh’ the motto of the old Royal Irish Fusiliers. Says Derry man Stephen Matier, a versatile and accomplished musician and co-founder of the group, “Some people are uneasy about what we do. The more we play the more people hear us, the less risk there is. From doing stuff we weren’t sure about we now get requests to do the Sash and so on …In many ways they gave it away. Now both sides are claiming it back. It’s just one music, just different arrangements or different time signatures …Hibernian bands used Lambeg drums. In some places they actually borrowed the drums off Protestant bands, and covered the paintings with a green sash”.
Different Drums helps to divest Ireland’s wonderful musical tradition of its sectarian nature. After a dynamic performance at the Waterfront someone commented to Roy “You have done for the Lambeg what Riverdance has done for Irish dancing”. Winds of change are blowing again.

Young people especially have been cut off from their unique musical heritage and with so much influences (much of it negative and decadent) coming from popular music with its commodification of boy/girl bands new ways are needed to reach out to them. The drumming tradition, while not on the margins, has lost many important facets. Roy poses the question “If we do not learn to create an authentic sense of community at local level, how are we going to stop wars between nations?” Over the years the group has changed. Along with Roy and Stephen, Dolores O’ Hare and Paul Marshall make up the current troupe. A rare crew with a diversity of talents, too many to enumerate here. A new CD was launched this month, Ancient lands: Different Drums of Ireland and Madragora. A video of their performance at the Nerve Centre Derry is available. More tours and venues are in the pipeline.

Happy days for Different Drums and long may they prosper. Visit their website www.differentdrums.co.uk -it’s all there!

Back to Contents