research and publication

Since 1981 I have done research with master artists on culture and music in Asian, African, European, and indigenous American traditions. My first goal is to play in each tradition with integrity. I travel to West Africa each year, live with the people in villages and experience their drumming, dance, and songs. After living with a melody, dance movement, or drum rhythm over a period of time and sensing its deeper meaning, I try to share my understanding with others through written articles or books, compact discs, or video.

Since the music derives from cultures other than my own, most visual and audio formats, and, when possible, performances and workshops resulting from our research, are in conjunction with a master artist. The music belongs to the people of those cultures, so compensation for my work is shared with them and the master artists.

My research has resulted in a 1700-page work, Blood Drum Spirit:Drum Languages of West Africa, African America, Native America, Central Java, and South India with thirty ninety-minute audio cassettes and The Drum: Concepts of Time and No Time (1983) a 400-page work with twenty-one ninety-minute audio cassettes, both with University Microfilms International.

My most recent publication is a book with compact disc, West African Rhythms for Drumset with Ghanaian master artists Abraham Kobena Adzenyah and the late Freeman Kwadzo Donkor (1995, Warner Brothers).

Anyone interested in my work or in studying drumming, dance, song, language, culture, or weaving in a West African village may contact me at the email address listed below.

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for information about residencies, lectures, and workshops contact me at the royal hartigan