24/08/2025
Jazz Fest begins tonight - Sunday, August 24th at 5pm! Join us on the Green for a FREE concert from Duende Libre and Sabu
More info at: www.OrcasCenter.org
Sabu is a six member drum ensemble based on Orcas and San Juan Islands. We play the traditional music of the Maninka, or Mindinka, people of Guinea and Mali in West Africa. Our presentation of this music is in the style of renowned Guinean djembefola (djembe player) and teacher Mamady Keita.
This music is traditionally played at celebrations and gatherings of all kinds, and the village comes out to dance! The ensemble consists of djembes, which are goblet shaped, goat skinned drums played with the hands, and 3 dununs, which are cylindrical, calf skinned drums played with a stick. The dununs also have metal bells, which are played with metal strikers. The dununs are called, from largest to smallest, dununba, sangban, and kenkeni. Like the jazz that grew from it as it crossed the Atlantic, this music has a highly improvisatory nature, especially in the djembes and dununba.
