West Africa comes to Minneapolis through music

Playing djembe
Brian Van Tassel plays the djembe, which he says is becoming one of the most popular drums in the world.
MPR photo/Roseanne Pereira

Brian Van Tassel is from the US, but he has been studying the music of West Africa and learning how to play the djembe, a popular type of drum, and the balafone, a wooden instrument played with hammers.

Van Tassel will be one of the featured performers at the World Refugee Day ceremonies in Minneapolis.

He explains a little about each instrument and plays them too in the audio links on the right.

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