The Art-Full Agbe

09/21/2019

https://drummagazine.com/a-brief-history-of-the-cajon/?fbclid=IwAR2t3mUDQgdlsL32mdY42ci3t-um3b5JkOarf0thFC4wgKHgl-AK5aCQrrk

09/30/2017

A piece in effect borrowed from Nietzsche, via a book on his "transfiguration of politics "...To the degree that an art is dominated by the laws of plasticity,'it is "Apollonian." To the degree that it lacks this quality, it is 'Dionysian.' Apollo is associated with form, Dionysus with flux. Music (and thereby even more so drumming)" is the most Dionysian of the arts, because it is practically a pure expression of will, requiring little or no external form to exist, and disappearing with its performance." In essence dominated by creative capacities. Jam on.

05/02/2017

04/25/2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KwJ2TO6IlQ

While I appreciate the Hawaiian Hulu related culture, I find it odd that none of the available videos or written material point out the detail of the Ipu HeKe Ole which relies upon the flared gourd handle that functions as a megaphonic amplifier. This detail is also an integral part of many western orchestral instruments, both woodwind and brass instruments. Gourds are also an integral part of many African origin instruments, including the Agbes as well as the balaphon. In my exploration of compound gourd instruments derived from the Agbes the amplification detail seems to be largely ignored. I will soon post some pictures of variations based upon the agbes which use the amplification detail. It is the sort of detail that until you hear how it amplifies the sound produced, you may not understand its importance in a non-electric context.
The larger of the two hulu drums, the Ipu Heke, is a two gourd drum which inverts the top gourd to also serve as an amplifier. The smaller hulu drum ,the Ipu HeKe Ole uses only one gourd of a particular structure, where the "handle" is naturally "fat" and cut to form the megaphone effect. The west African Agbe defines itself by the use of beads or shells to produce a snare effect. A hybrid of the two traditions is then possible when a bead jacket is made for what would be in Hawai an Ipu HeKe Ole. Similarly the typical Ipu HeKe is dropped onto a mat or slapped on its side. The Agbe by tradition uses a side resonance port and is slapped on its side. So another hybrid is possible by joining two gourds with a resonance port on the lower gourd and the top gourd can be used as an amplifier.(REVISED)

Students learned the basics of 'ipu making from a video of a kumu (teacher) on the Big Island of Hawai'l. They then made their own instruments, start to fini...

04/22/2017

Doing some explorations of the further possibilities for the Agbe, which means that I am both researching the related acoustic physics and making a compound, two and three gourd + version of the agbe and reading Bart Hopkin's and Bill Dadson's related book, entitled "Slap Tubes and Other Plosive Aerophones." At the least these efforts will produce a more detailed analysis of the acoustic physics of the Agbe, as well as a more complex version of the Art-Full Agbe. The Art-Full Agbe's acoustic physics includes idiophonic, aero-phonic physics with two sub-class aspects, and rarely a membrane-o-phonic physics. The immediate objective is to produce a compound Agbe which has a number of different capacities as an instrument. Part of the results will show up as another revision of the Art-Full Agbe "operator's manual."

04/16/2017

New Agbes just shipped today Feb 14, 2017 to their new homes

04/16/2017

04/02/2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvHFuJX2Ock&feature=share

Gil Scott-Heron Live on Old Grey Whistle Test 1976

03/28/2017

As of 2:00 pm Tuesday March 28, 2017 my offer of free agbes to select players is temporarily closed. I have enough demand at this point to keep me busy. The persona versions are at material cost at this point. My intermediate objective is to have a demand which can provide for the cost of making these hybrid agbes, and some income for my labors. The persona versions often approach sculpture work. People can still contact me about my supplying agbes to them personally or for music education programs. Leave a message here or at my personal Fcbk page. Tadit Anderson

03/22/2017

03/04/2017

working on several right now, an owl, an engineer/archtect, a witch, a King and Queen. The object is to have a list of personnas and pictures that people can see and imagine.