A Landmark Celebration

When Ndugu Chancler was a boy growing up in Watts, it was a tradition for drummers, percussionists and other musicians to jam in Will Rogers Memorial Park.

“They would play all day, every weekend,” he recalls. “A number of them were professional musicians.”

The musicians he met and the music he heard profoundly influenced Chancler. He became a professional musician himself, a percussionist who’s recorded with everyone from Miles Davis to Michael Jackson. His Ndugu Drum Ensemble is one of about a dozen percussion groups that will perform at the Day of the Drum Festival on Saturday, followed Sunday by the 24th annual jazz festival at the Watts Towers State Historic Park in Los Angeles.

The festivals, always held the last weekend of September, feature ethnic foods, exhibits and arts and crafts booths, plus numerous local and international performers.

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And over the two days, the public will have the opportunity to tour the Watts Towers for the first time since damage from the Northridge earthquake in 1994 forced its closure. (The towers will not reopen again until early in 2001.)

For the past several years, a fence has surrounded the towers and scaffolding has obstructed the view of the intricately detailed work that contains colorful tiles, shells, glass and pieces of china. The scaffolding has been temporarily removed for the drum and jazz festivals.

The landmark has been an artistic wonder since the first half of the century, when Simon Rodia, an eccentric Italian immigrant, built the towers over 33 years with nothing more than his tile fitter’s tools. He completed the towers and the surrounding walls in 1954.

Mark Greenfield, director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, sees a close relationship between the towers and the community.

“There’s a tradition here,” he says. “Simon Rodia had a longtime relationship with the kids in the neighborhood. They would bring him pieces of broken glass, and he would give them a penny for each piece.”

Rodia moved away in 1954, never to again see what has become a world-renowned work of art. The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department took charge of the architectural landmark in 1976.

The next year, artist John Outterbridge and Alonzo Davis, founder of the Brockman Gallery, helped organize the first Watts Towers Jazz Festival. In 1981, the Day of the Drum Festival debuted, highlighting drums and percussion instruments from around the world.

“Before and after the [1965] riots, 103rd Street was the cultural center for us musically,” Chancler says. “Everyone came through there. Most of the members of the Crusaders lived here, [pianist-bandleader] Horace Tapscott, [saxophonist] Big Jay McNeely, [R&B; bandleader] Johnny Otis. [Saxophonist] Charles Lloyd was my sister’s high school music teacher.”

As the demographics of the area change--it’s now about half Latino and half African American, Greenfield says--the event has even more significance. Every culture, he explains, uses the drum in some form of ritual or celebration. When diverse groups come together at the drum festival, he says, “It highlights our similarities more than our differences.”

Kicking off the drum festival is Felipe Garcia Villamil, whose Afro-Cuban music represents the changing demographic, Greenfield says. He will lead the grounds blessing at 11:15 a.m. Saturday.

“It sets the tone for the day,” Greenfield says. “The drum festival is extremely spiritual, and drumming its so pervasive throughout different world cultures.”

Following Villamil, the Rhythm Regiment Drum Corps Percussionists, whose members range in age from 2 to 12, will offer a multicultural mix of hip-hop, Afro-Cuban, Native American and Japanese taiko. Also in the lineup are the Abalaya Dance Ensemble, the Watts Towers Drum Workshop, La Feet, Oblinyanko, Shakti School of Bharata Natyam, Hikari Taiko, Danza Azteca Mictlantecuhtli, the Panama Folkloric Group and Ndugu Drum Ensemble.

On Sunday, the jazz festival bill includes Bubba Jackson as emcee, Voices of Distinction, Nate Morgan and Swingin’ ‘n’ Exile, Ron Bruner and the Strange Jazz Universe, Barbara Morrison and Ozomatli.

“This is a chance for the city to come together,” Chancler says. “It puts us all on equal territory. That’s what music does.”

BE THERE

The 19th annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival (Saturday) and 24th annual Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival (Sunday), 1727 E. 107th St., Los Angeles. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. both days. Free. Information: (213) 847-4646.