UNITY DRUM THEATER

我的名字叫 Emmanuel charles richardson, 我是UnityDrum Theater的創辦人及團長。 非洲的音樂及舞蹈打從我出生在西非迦納的那一刻起，就一直存在於我的生命之中。 我的父親在我五歲時，就開始教導我如何打鼓，他的教導不同於傳統的非洲鼓，我的父親是迦納Cape Coast知名的音樂家。 當我九歲的時候，我的爸爸與哥哥，帶我到位於Cape Coast城堡，一個名叫"The Twerampong Traditional Drumming and Danceing Group"的鼓團。 They knew where my source of motivation in life came from. 他們知道我?? 我從來不知道我能夠跳舞，但我知道音樂就像我身體的一部份，如同我的熱情一般。 在鼓團裡，我在我的老師帶領之下學習關於非洲鼓/舞及他們願意教導我的任何事情。 當我國中的時候，我的父親過世，頓時間我像失去生命中所有的一切，但我從來不放棄我所做的事情。我離開了原來的鼓團。 I continued but stopped my formal group and became my own master by teaching foreign and local people to earn some money for a living. 我獨立出來，教導外國人及本地人非洲鼓舞，賺取生活所需。 在2007年，當我高中的時候，我得到一個機會，可以指導我的同學們在學校的演講&頒獎日演出。從那之後，我帶領著這些成員們開始訓練，成立我自已的鼓團叫"Unity Drum Theater"，也是第一個 My name is Emmanuel charles richardson, I am the founder and head of UnityDrum Theater. African music and dancing have been in my life since I was born in Ghana, West Africa. My father taught me how to play drums when I was five years ol...

Unity Drum Celebrating Emancipation Day in Assin Manso, Ghana 2010 "1st August will be Emancipation Day. This day is a very significant day in the history of Ghanaian and African people which  all Ghanaians must observe and that government should mark as a holiday. The significance of this day is that it marks the 171st anniversary of the official end of the British Empire as it was known of the enslavement of Africans. The trans atlantic slave trade."

Ageorgia is a talented entrepreneur and an artist in Unity Drum group. He offers tremendous help to Ecotour2010 Bike Ghana program by assembling, fixing, organizing the services of the bikes. He makes things work and has high quality of service towards the things he committed to. In this film, he reminds us what to check on a bike as essentials. Unity Drum will run a bike rental station in Cape Coast to promote healthy living. If anyone wants bikes for hiring for tour, exercise or just for riding, he/she should contact: Email: culturemanrich@gmail.com Tel:+4542752394

Fetu Afahye Festival, Cape Coast, Ghana 2010 Unity Drum joined together with other culture groups to enjoy Fetu Afahye Festival on the street of Cape Coast. Andrew w/ the cool shads plays the dundun!!! Richardson did the solo dance!

djembe precaution (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana) A djembe is a skin-covered hand drum shaped like a large goblet and meant to be played with bare hands. According to the Bamana people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes directly from the saying "Anke dje, anke be" which literally translates to "everyone gather together" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language, "Dje" is the verb for "gather" and "be" translates as "everyone".

DAMBA (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana)

cul dance (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana) This is a dance composed by Richardson the leader/founder of unity drum. In his living he always stays to be creative.So he just came about this dance to enhance the talent he has.The word cul is derived from the name people use to call him in the school, which is culturemanrich. So he just took the first three letters of the name he was named to,then added dance to it to be cul-dance, to be a sign of his own memory when he is not there. This dance is a djembe type dance,which recquire much energy and enough space to suit the dance.Is a dance for all. which mean there is no seperation of sex.

Fume Fume (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana)

This dance performed mostly by the Ewe communities in Ghana. During the period of inter-tribal wars, GADJO dance was performed to incite people for war. When inter-tribal wars subsided GADJO becomes an object of art and other dances developed out of the GADJO dance. One of these dances GADJO is performed as an art object which helps people to reflect on the tribal wars. Thus, some of the dances patterns depict war-like movement. Nowadays, it is performed during the installation of a chief.

KETE (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana) Kete dance has always been a court dance for chiefs and members of the Royal Household and the favorite of the Asantehene. Traditionally, Kete was played for the King Adinkra of the Gyamanse during the Asant-Gyaman war. The story is about the Asantes captured Kete drummers and took them to Kumasi. Another traditional source claims that kete drums were originally for the Asantehene who took them while they were going to fight against the Gyamans. One of the kete rhythmic patterns is called Adinkra. 'Yede brebre bekum Adinkra,Oboa keka no kwa' translates as, slowly and very slowly we will kill Adinkra, all his threats are lies. Also, we can see the drums are usually coved in red and black check pattern. The red represent shed blood during the Ashante-Gyaman war while the black signifies the men lost during the war. The dance is noted for the courtliness for the war.

POWER (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana) This dance is a type of dance which deals with the collective ideas from different angles of some traditional dances in Africa together to be danced at any occasion. The dance contains war dance steps and also peace movement of dance steps. So it suit any occasion that will be called upon for performance. The dance was introduced by a youth called Richardson who is the leader of UNITY DRUM Ghana (Cape Coast). He composed this dance also to honor the ancestors to show them how grateful he is having their knowledge of creativity and artistic skills. He also create this dance to show to the world that dance is dynamic, which means dance is not stagnant, instead, it changes in forms and values at all time to show power we have over creativity and being artistic. The dance contains series of drums which are to be used and also costumes to be worn when dancing this kind of dance.

AGBEDZA (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana)

BAWA (Unity Drum, in Cape Coast, Ghana) This is found among the Lobi and Dagarba people of the Upper West Region of Ghana. This dance type died out some time ago, but has been revived. It used to be festival dance performed only when the moon was up. The occasion for performance are marriage ceremonies and festivals .

No matter who you are,where you come from. Unity Drum Theater welcomes you for your dance break through. Come and have fun with us. You are warmly welcome to Unity Drum Theater.We say "AYIKOO" 不論你是誰，是打那來。Unity Drum Theater歡迎你的到來！來與我們同樂！ 一起大聲說＂AYIKOO"

Unity Drum Theater Interview

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All are warmly welcome. Date: 14th April 2012 Venue: Ghana, Cape coast, Old Post Office. Time: 6:30 pm Come and have fun!!

This had been the first time teaching dancing at the beach. It was lovely and my student really enjoyed it very much. We sometime had swimming after dancing and sweating. Haha its fun. COME TO UNITY DRUM THEATER TO HAVE SUCH EXPERIENCE.

It is very easy and fun to learn drumming and dancing with UNITY DRUM THEATER. It is not going to take you long time to know a dance in UNITY DRUM THEATER because we know the basics to pass you through first. DANCE FOR REAL! THEN COME TO UNITY DRUM THEATER.....

It was fun in Taiwan but yet it was also the time i needed there to share with them about our culture and our heritage. Unity Drum Theater is an open minded group to share and motivate everybody to do what ever they are doing with heart and with good spirit.We love and care!!!!