Sunday, 2 November 2014, 12 to 6 p.m.
Magic of the Drum
8th Sound Workshop with Ars Choralis Coeln

In the 8th Sound Workshop, Nora Thiele will be teaching a few basic beats, but the workshop will also deal with the smooth transitions between traditional and medieval music. The Ars Choralis Coeln and Nora Thiele will be experimenting with music by Hildegard of Bingen, Italian lauds, Gregorian hymns, and religious dancing songs. With this acoustic festival of cultures, Ars Choralis Coeln will be celebrating its 10th birthday at the 8th KOLUMBA Sound Workshop! The frame drum is one of mankind's oldest music instruments. Its existence may be proven in portrayals from Mesopotamia that are 9000 years old. In prehistoric times, drum rhythms helped shamans and visionaries reach their sacred trances that were necessary for healing and foretelling the future. Rituals from the earliest known religions came about to the beat of the frame drum. Playing sacred drums was one of the most important skills and tasks, above all for women, since these early religions were based on the veneration of mother goddesses, from which later the diversity of goddesses found in Mediterranean cultures developed. Women were the first performers of the "holy" and they performed religious functions, playing the sacred drum being one of their most important tasks. Until the fall of the Roman Empire, the frame drum was reserved for the priestesses. Even today, the frame drum may be found almost everywhere in the world, for example, as a shaman drum in Northern Europe, Sapmi (Lappland), Asia, and North America or as an accompanying instrument played with the fingers in the Orient: Tar, Bendir, Riq, Daf, Daire, Mazhar or as the tamburello in traditional Italian music. In the Bible, the frame drum is mentioned as Miriam's instrument. It still plays a great role today in the ceremonies of some Sufi orders. It came to South America (Pandeiro) through the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors.

Art museum of the
Archdiocese of Cologne