Monday, December 5, 2011

Learning rhythm 'a necessity'


talks to percussion artist and teacher David Dely



By: Moni Oyeyele

You could confidently say that Colombian-Hungarian David Dely has music in his veins. Having been inspired by a family where almost everyone is a musician and/or a teacher, he could  hardly have chosen any other fate than building a successful musical career. Besides his artistry, however, he also cares about sharing his knowledge with people longing for the rhythm. “It is a positive surprise to experience the growing number of Hungarians who want to learn the drum, and the way they seek out skills that are not traditional here,” the 32-year-old artist-pedagogue says. “Hand drum techniques and rhythms are mostly related to African and Latin American musical styles and dances; their liveliness and cheerfulness can almost be therapeutic for stressed city folk in Europe.”The son of Hungarian percussionist István Dely and Colombian singer/songwriter Leonor Dely, David was raised on the Caribbean Coast, in the very heartland of Afro-Colombian folklore and Gabriel García Márquez’s magical realism. 

As a musician, he grew up amidst the Afro-Caribbean drums and native American flutes of his father’s percussion school, where he was at the same time learning and teaching the spirit of the “tribal-global” approach to music for more than 15 years.
At the Music Academy of Bogotá, he already had several students and followers in style.
With his wife, who is also a singer, Dely moved to Hungary in 2001, and, since then, with his re-established band Tumba y Quema, he has played at all significant capital and countryside music festivals, and produced a CD, while continuing to teach.
Besides individual lessons, given either in English, Spanish or Hungarian, he highly values percussion workshops, where conga- and djembe- players of various levels gather and, following Dely’s instructions, develop or refine their skills, always ending the workshop with a percussion jam.
“I also deal with professional players, acting as a kind of rhythm-clinic”, he says.
“One can always further develop him or herself, and a real artist is always humble and diligent to learn new things. Through teaching, I also learn a lot, even today.”


Heartbeat


But why should one learn to play the drum, and not another instrument? “The very first thing a fetus hears in its mother’s womb is the rhythm of her heartbeat, and rhythms escort us throughout our entire life,” Dely says.
“Learning the drum, it is most ideal to start as early as four or five years, but it is never too late: one can start in their 40s or 50s, and still achieve a relatively good level.
“Indeed, percussions are one of the best instruments to start with. A drum is such a generous instrument: unlike, for instance, a violin or a saxophone, it gives you a feeling of success even in the early stage of learning. In addition, rhythm is the skeleton of music; there is no music without rhythm. So once you get the beat, you will have some music!”
Once you have made up your mind to “get the beat,” Dely recommends starting with a conga. “It is an instrument that has lots of opportunities to play, however, to get the correct technique of hitting it and getting the right sound out of it is not too easy at first.
“But once you master that sound, you will know the basic ‘sounding’ technology of most other types of drum, including djembe-, congalegre, and darbuka. It is similar to first having to learn the classical guitar before moving on to  bass guitar.”
Dely is also a talented gaita (a traditional Colombian flute) and Andian flute performer, and an experienced guitarist. Those instruments, however, are mainly used for his composing and performing work.
The artist believes musical education should be taken more seriously, regardless of one’s age and profession.
Music and rhythm are powerful tools for taking people away from loneliness, sorrow or simple idleness – besides, playing the drum with friends can be such fun, almost an addiction.
“The vibration of drums impacts one both physically and psychologically. I believe listening to and learning good rhythms is a necessity for any healthy person,” Dely summarizes.


My other objective, besides teaching music, is to make people get the feeling of respect for why they are doing something. You must be conscious that you are not only learning to play on a drum, but to interrelate with other things and creations in your environments,” explained David Dely.
“I am very happy when my former students or workshop participants come back to me, saying that, although they didn’t become professional drummers, they learnt how to enjoy it, and that enjoyment brought other enjoyments to them, and so helped their life.”



21.05.2008

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Live concert at Gödör Klub Music Hall Budapest...and more.

  
Live on the 28th of August, Gödör, Downtown Budapest, Hungary. The group has appeared at all the major Hungarian world music festivals and in many well known alternative clubs. Most of their numbers are composed by David Dely, the group's percussionist and leader. They are based on Colombian and Afro-Caribbean rhythms and spiced with a wide variety of global music influences. Their music always radiates the joie de vivre characteristic of the Caribbean, a melting pot of races and cultures. The Spanish xpression 'tumba y quema' refers to the slash and burn technique used to clear tropical rainforests, but it is also used in a figurative sense: when you want to start something new, you first have to burn your old junk. Moreover, in some regions of Latin America the word "tumba" is used for various kinds of drums and dances. Music & Drums from Colombia, with the afrocolombian spirit empowered by modern beats of rock, reggae, hip-hop and afrobeat. Tumba y Quema has developed its own sound combining different styles and rhytms from Colombia, Caribbean countries and the African influence whithin those cultures, using at the same time standard musical concepts such as rock , hip-hop, reggae, brazilian rhythms, afrobeat, jazz and more. Tumba y Quema goes beyond by adding strength and richness to its groove with rhythms and music styles from other culture, that is to say, oriental patterns and traditional melodies from Hungary, India, West Africa, Australia, Spain, NorthAmerica, attempting thus to ilustrate with its music the concept of Unity in Diversity. All this, we call it TRIBALGLOBAL.

Claudia Andrade: Lead vocal David Dely:Percussion ,flutes, guitar Shango Dely: congas, Alegre Drum Marton Takacs:Tambora drum, percussion Aldo Acevedo: Bass Kovacs Norbert: Drums Kovacs Balint: guitar. Tumba y Quema`s main influence comes from Millero Congo, the pioneer of TRIBALGLOBAL, founded by Istvan Dely - who was the first conga player in the history of Latin Music in Western Europe - and formed by his Family (Istvan, Leonor (his wife), and their two sons David and Shangó). The band's story starts over 30 years ago when Istvan Dely receives the title, given by his drum-master, of Millero Congo in cuba in his early years of formation as a percussionist. In 1984, with his own family, he creates „El Cabildo de tambores Millero Congo,"

The first formal percussion school and experimental root fusion band in Colombia. Coming from this school, the two boys, David and Shango, years later become important percussionist and musicians in their home land as well as abroad, performing and recording for superstars Carlos Vives and Carlos Santana, among others, collaborating with great producer KC Porter, composing and leading their own bands and experiments, and creating their own percussion school which goes around in Europe, the „DelyPercussion School." Tumba Y Quema's lead vocal, composer and founder of the band, David Dely explains: „ .The world today is living a time of synthesis; it is dificult to have only one influence in this world of diversity. Precisely that is what brings about the beauty of this era. I think every sound on the street, every song on the radio, every musician around, influences me and my music".