Sound and energy of traditional African drums drew resident into art form.
Richard "Popcorn" Cumberbatch, a drummer sing the age of 11, is the Musical Director for the Collective of Black Artists (COBA). The Collective will perform Les Rythmes de la Foret from Feb. 3 to 5 at Fleck Dance Theatre on the Queens Quay West.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
Growing up in the Caribbean, Richard "Popcorn" Cumberbatch said playing the drums was frowned upon. But despite that, Popcorn said he was drawn in by the sound and energy of the instrument.
Popcorn, a nickname he got while teaching grade school students the art of drumming, grew up in the twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago.
He was intrigued when he would see young men walk by, drums in hand, and at night he could hear his neighbours, a block away, playing the drums.
"I just felt a connection with it and I would sit there in my bed for a couple of hours listening to them and after a while I couldn't tell when I feel asleep," Popcorn said.
At the age of 11, Popcorn said his school was hosting a dance contest and he, now 52, was asked if he wanted to play the drums. He said yes.
Deciding to take up the drums was a bit of defiance, Popcorn explained, as the art was frowned upon in his culture.
"My parents never knew about it," he said. "I would practice what the (teachers) had showed me on a bucket in my attic at home."
"With the slaves and all that it was something that was outlawed... The story I heard, people used to get their hand chopped off if they were caught playing the drum and doing the dances."
If your grandparents and your great-grandparents were told not to drum and the outcome if you did was you would lose your hand, then naturally you aren't going to drum and you are going to tell your children not to drum, Popcorn said. It becomes something ingrained, he said.
"Slavery, as I heard it, was training to control people and when you control people it stays forever... Look at religion, I am sure my ancestors weren't Christian, but all of the sudden my whole (family is) because it was instilled and you were told that is what you have to do and it passed on and on and on."
Popcorn has been playing the Caribbean Indigenous style of drumming for more than 30 years.
"Most of the rhythms are from the African slaves that were brought there," Popcorn explained.
He moved to Toronto as a teenager, a city he loves because of its diversity and multiculturalism.
"Mom was up here and she cooks the best in the world," he joked. "You've got to go where the best food and the best bread and cake are, so I came up."
He continued to play the drums and joined the Collective Of Black Artists (COBA), a Toronto-based organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of traditional West African dance, music and folklore; Caribbean Indigenous Folk dance, music and rituals in their purest forms possible for the theatrical stage.
He has been a member of COBA for many years and is currently the collective's musical director.
COBA will present Les Rythmes de la Foret, a suite of dances and rhythms from the sub-Saharan region accompanied by traditional drums and chants. There will be four drummers, three singers and about 10 dancers.
The show is high energy and entertaining, Popcorn said.
"Hopefully if you come, you will feel like you went to the Caribbean and you will leave relaxed and forget about your troubles that day," Popcorn said.
Les Rythmes de la Foret, as part of Harbourfront's NextSteps dance series, is being staged at Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W. Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $22 to $30 and $18 to $25 for students and seniors.