Mark Sunkett’s drumming began on the floor of his family’s kitchen. He liked to bang away on pots and pans. Today, the ASU music professor studies and performs African drumming; music that he says comes from and unites its community.
The younger Sunkett’s familial approach to music continues today. An associate professor of music at Arizona State University, he immerses himself in the study and performance of African drumming. He says it is music that comes from and unites its community.
“Growing up in Pennsylvania, I was interested in African drumming. But there were not any outlets or ways to study this music academically,” Sunkett says. Instead, he headed to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to earn an orchestral percussion performance degree. This classical music background eventually led him to ASU where he teaches music, and later to perform as principal timpanist with the Phoenix Symphony.
“I’ve always been intrigued with African drumming and by the fact that all the material I could find on the subject was produced by non-Africans and non-African Americans,” Sunkett says. “This isn’t bad, but I always thought there had to be another perspective.”
Sunkett provides that perspective. His curiosity and interest in African drumming became the focus of a doctoral dissertation, a video, and numerous recordings. For 10 years he has reveled in the accessibility of African music, especially from a performance perspective.
“If you want to study classical music, you must use the European system of notation, theory, harmony,” Sunkett explains. African music is more intrinsic.
Western jazz and rock music, both only recently studied from an academic perspective, may be more approachable. However, Sunkett says these forms of music are largely entertainment offered through concert events which people attend and then leave.
“It is something that you turn on and turn off,” he says. African music, on the other hand, is integrated into the lives of the people it represents.
Sunkett has traveled to the West African country of Senegal five times in the past decade. There he discovered the difference between tympani and African drumming is not merely the change from one instrument to another; it is part of an expansion of the overall musical experience.
“African music is so much a part of social involvement in the community. When there, I am in fact a part of that community,” Sunkett says. “This really appeals to me because it addresses things that go beyond African music and links me more directly to what I consider a part of my African heritage.”
One of Sunkett’s first and more painful adjustments were the bleeding hands and calluses needed to play African drums. “The sound is better if I have calluses on my fingers,” he says. “You must fight to maintain the right balance. Just enough callous and the sound is good; too much and your fingers crack and bleed.”
A second obstacle was Sunkett’s African-American birthright, which equipped him with Western sensibilities and perceptions of intangibles such as rhythm.
“There are many more absolutes, more concrete components to music in Western study,” he explains. “If you know the rules, you can pretty much understand exactly what’s supposed to happen. But in African music there’s a lot more fluidity, more variability in what can happen.”
Much depends on the “master drummer” who leads an African drum ensemble. In Western terms, this lead drummer is much like the conductor and featured soloist.
Other qualities are intrinsic to the culture. For drummers of the community, the music and rhythms become second nature. Not hearing them daily, Sunkett must learn to academically process the rhythms.
“I’m getting better at just being able to feel them, but that hasn’t completely happened yet,” he laughs.
The African drum ensemble itself is not unlike a string quartet. Members have some latitude to go beyond a prescribed musical part, but they always are aware of their roles in the group. The larger the ensemble, the less the opportunity for variation in parts. In Senegal, ensemble sizes usually range from three to seven drummers.
Sunkett’s African aesthetic is flourishing. During a 1995 visit to Senegal, he was allowed to be the master drummer in a few ensembles.
“Part of it fortunately is part of me,” Sunkett says. “There are some things that have been retained or maintained in the African-American culture that directly address the African aesthetic. These are the things I write about.”
Sunkett’s book, Mandiani Drum and Dance: Djimbe Performance and Black Aesthetics from Africa to the New World (White Cliffs Media, Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1995), is based on the Mande dance and drumming practices. Originally of Guinea, the Mande people play the Djembe (jim-bay). The Djembe has been a popular drum in the United States since the 1950s. Sunkett’s book grew from his doctoral dissertation. In it, he connects the music and dance traditions of the Djembe with the African-American community and Senegalese culture.
“I wanted to be as complete and holistic as I could possibly be when looking at a drum, dance, and a music culture,” Sunkett says. During his research, he made field recordings of the music as performed in Africa and the United States. He then conducted a comparative analysis on the methods and styles of both the music and the dance.
Sunkett has since released a compact disk, “Mandiani Drum and Dance,” and in early 1997, completed a video of the same title.
“There are things that you can describe with words and things you can hear in the music, but sometimes an image is needed to fully realize the whole impact,” Sunkett says. “I can recall musical moments in my life that have been just exquisite—the epitome of emotional involvement and commitment and pleasure from performing. I now have a new area that provides the same kind of satisfaction, plus the pure physicality of playing African drums.”
The ASU professor has yet to satisfy his thirst for new rhythms. Journeys to Africa introduced him to new friends, fellow drummers, and different instruments. The Djembe book, compact disk, and video are part of a process Sunkett plans to continue.
In early 1997, he produced and released a second compact disk, “Sabar: The Soul of Senegal.” Eventually, Sunkett plans to write about other drums, which have captured his attention—the Sowruba, Diun Diun, Tama, and Khin.
—Vickie Hamilton-Smith
