About Us

 
Florida A & M University's (FAMU) Center for Caribbean Culture pipelines tolerance and understanding of African and Caribbean culture and tradition through education. As a constituent to the Center, the drumming and dancing organization, Dromatala, has fostered a unification between FAMU and the greater Tallahassee community since the Fall of 2000.

Dromatala is an organization fighting to preserve educational enhancement through the arts. As a part of FAMU's Center for Caribbean Culture, Dromatala has shown leadership in the crusade for arts education by providing information and cultural enrichment through the arts. Our activities include performances, workshops that teach about African culture, and the preservation of African-Caribbean music through documentation and education. Dromatala develops, facilitates, and participates in various educational and experiential programs including seminars, exchanges, and festivals designed to disseminate information regarding the history and culture behind the music and dance.

History
"Dromatala" is an organization interested in the perpetuation, presentation and study of Hand and Stick Drumming of the African Diaspora (the dispersion of African peoples form the continent of Africa through slave trades). The mission of the organization is to serve as part of the "vanguard that is continuing to expose the link between African-American culture, Caribbean culture, and the traditional style of West African music and dance."

Long-time drummers Eric Bond, Derek Abdully Hemingway, Alex Harvey, Olusegun Williams and Osubi Craig, who currently serves as the battery's Artistic and Musical Director, formed Dromatala in 1993. Boasting musical experience in musical styles ranging from reggae to drum corps style marching band, the members of Dromatala produce a sound that owes its heritage to the instruments being featured as well as the backgrounds of the musicians. This sound borrows rhythms from the peoples of Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Gambia in West Africa. Dromatala has Afro-Cuban Latin style undertones with African-American grounding in traditional Jazz and R&B funk.

Members of Dromatala have worked continuously with groups such FAMU Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women (through their summer dance intensives held for three years at FSU Dance School), The National Black College Dance Exchange, and the African Caribbean Dance Theater. This support for the Arts in Tallahassee by Dromatala spans nearly a decade. In the fall of 2000 Dromatala after years of collaborative work on campus and in the Tallahassee area community joined forces with the FAMU Center for Caribbean Culture under the Direction of Dr. Jan DeCosmo. This partnership has helped to foster and promote unity Tallahassee Community and Florida A&M University. Through music, we seek to promote cultural awareness and community fellowship.

Dromatala is well on its way to having the kind of cohesion that is found in the legendary bands and groups. Dromatala is well known through out the South-Eastern part of United States as one of the strongest batteries of hand and stick percussionists and dancers.

Members of Dromatala have performed nationally and internationally at festivals such as:

  • 21st Annual Festival of Fire and Festival De Caribe in Santiago de Cuba
  • Dance Africa in New York and Chicago,
  • The United Nations in New York
  • The National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia
  • The North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands,
  • The Montreaux Jazz Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland
  • The Florida African Dance Festival in Tallahassee, Florida
  • The National Black College Dance Exchange various cities

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    Mission Statements:
    Dromatala: Dromatala, as a constituent of the Center for Caribbean Culture, is interested in the perpetuation, presentation and study of Hand and Stick Drumming and Dancing of the African Diaspora (the dispersion of African peoples form the continent of Africa through slave trades). The mission of the organization is to elucidate the link between African-American culture, Caribbean culture, and the traditional style of West African music and dance.

    Florida A&M University Center for Caribbean Culture: The mission of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University's Center for Caribbean Culture is both educational and cultural. The Center's attempts to foster tolerance, education and understanding through demonstration and explanation of African traditions, as well as Caribbean cultural traditions that have their roots in Africa. These traditions include cultural customs and folkways that are transmitted through art (costume design and construction), dance, performance poetry, and music.


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