Dance : Burundi Drums Pound Message

The Drummers of Burundi came to the Wadsworth Theater on Friday as beloved performing ambassadors of an endangered traditional East African culture.

Entering with large wooden barrel drums balanced on their heads, these 13 men formed a semicircle of instruments with one painted drum (green, red and white, like their robes) placed forward of the line.

To this center, each man came in turn to drum and dance--backed by the others in forceful and complex rhythmic display but expected to vary according to his nature. Thus, every drummer swirled his drumstick around his neck with incredible speed and smoothness (as if winding thread on a spool)--but in a different way. And every one added a personal signature to the Burundi jump: a high vault with knees pulled up and feet stretched out as if the jumper wanted to touch his toes in midair.

Some contributed sensuous hip action, some a lolling of the neck. Some emphasized elegant reserve; some seemed to be auditioning for the Burundi Olympic team. And as their individual physical feats supplemented the nonstop group drumming, the performance made an indelible statement about African humanism, about an individual’s relationship to a culture--about enlightened masculinity, too.

The drummers used the sides as well as the skins of their instruments and reportedly have 40 rhythms in their arsenal. At the Wadsworth, their playing very quickly pulled you into their energy field, their joy in the moment of performance.