Drums in the Night

The world is a serious place. Serious things happen in it. Often I grow tired of serious things and wish to be frivolous and happy. But frivolity and happiness require work, lots of it, and there are in fact few things that require more dedication than joy. This dedication may be the simple but challenging willingness to embrace the moment fully, to lose oneself in the now, the old Zen ideal of eternity-within-transience.

Climbing achieves this state for me. So does running and dancing. Drumming also, at least after the initial self-conscious phase has passed. Then it becomes a form of active meditation, a trance condition where it seems that the drums are playing the player, or at least playing themselves.

This picture shows me drumming with my good friend, the always excellent Tseng Lan Hui. Although bongo fury is fun, I soon think it will be time for a darbuka and belly dancers...