When Folkmoot USA organizers announced plans to hold an African drumming workshop during this year’s international dance festival, Carol Hammock of Hazelwood made plans to attend.

“It’s the music of the soul, the rhythm of the soul,” she said of African drumming.

So Carol, a five-year drumming veteran, and her husband Bob, showed up at the Folkmoot Friendship Center with their own instruments on a sultry Monday to participate with others in a workshop presented by Joe Akakpo of Togo.

The West African djembe (jem-bay) drumming tradition Akakpo specializes in has become increasingly popular among Americans in recent years. Organized and impromptu drum circles appear during festivals and wherever people gather to listen to music. Akakpo used a strap around his shoulders to play his instrument, while most participants positioned the drums between their legs. Others had drum stands and stood just outside the circle.

Jimmy Stuber of Bethel, another of the participants in the workshop, said playing his drum releases something very “deep down.”

“I’ve had my drum for about a year, and I’ve been to circles in Waynesville but I came hear to learn to tune the drum and to learn more,” said Stuber. “It is a real spiritual experience, it speaks to you very deeply. This stuff has been going on since the cave men, before we were men. It takes you back to your roots.

As Akakpo took the participants through his lesson — which was part drumming, part history, and part spiritual — he started with the very basic steps used in playing the instrument.

“Go back to zero, all the way. Left, right, left, right, left, right .... If you have rings on your fingers, take them off,” he said.

From there Akakpo described how to produce bass-like rhythms with the entire hand hitting the center of the drum and how to make melodic high notes by beating the edge of the drumskin with one’s fingers while gripping its edge with the thumb and part of the palm.

Akakpo explained that West African drumming styles evolved from the different cultures that live in that part of the continent. Drummers in Togo, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and other countries — and the different cultures within each country — all do things a little differently.

“The rhythm is from the culture. You have to create your own rhythm from your culture, find what speaks to you,” said Akakpo.

Carol Hammock said drumming just feels good.

“It makes you feel sensual and grounded,” she said.

— Scott McLeod