Leek Afrique is a community West African Drumming project where we attract participants from the Leek Moorlands in Staffordshire, and Stoke on Trent areas in the Midlands. We play authentic West African percussion from Guinea and have been running now for over a year. I have spent much time in West Africa over the last 8 years sourcing and learning our music at the foot of 'drum masters' in Guinea, Gambia and Senegal. It is an absolute privelege to share this with people from all walks of life who come along every two weeks to learn and enjoy both the music and the amazing therapeutic value of the rhythms. We have never attempted to source funding, but as we want to continue to attract newcomers to share the joy, we are in much need of more instruments. All the ones we use currentlly have been bought by myself, but they are getting old and tired now. Some can be re-skinned, but we still don't have enough! We would love to be able to buy a new set of djun djuns (stick drums) as well as a set of 6 krins (hollowed out logs). We also need a couple of extra djembes and costumes would be fantastic! We only have enough costumes for six players at the moment. If we are successful in this plea for financial assistance, we will be able to grow and perform in more venues throughout the Midlands. We want to work in local venues, and also aim to host workshops in settings for those who are disadvantaged in our communities. For ourselves, we fund our own venue, transport and, importantly our time!
