Gerald Achee (November 15, 1952 - January 12, 2021) known by his stage name Gerry Drums, was a
Trinidadian
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...
drummer and the leader of the
Village Drums of Freedom.
Biography
Gerald Achee was born in
St. James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital
Port of Spain
Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...
. He was introduced to the traditional
Afro-Caribbean music
Afro-Caribbean music is a broad term for music styles originating in the Caribbean from the African diaspora. These types of music usually have West African/Central African influence because of the presence and history of African people and their ...
at an early age. Achee started his artistic career as a
limbo
The unofficial term Limbo (, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition in medieval Catholic theology, of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the gene ...
-dancer. Later he began to play
djembe
A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...
. In 1969 Gerald Achee founded the
free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...
percussion band Village Drums of Freedom. From 1970 until 1980 he travelled with his ensemble and a group of dancers through Europe, South America and US and then finally settled in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
NY. His band grew bigger and now consists of more than a hundred drummers all over the world. Every year Village Drums of Freedom plays a leading part in the
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. This event is well known for participants' colorful costumes and exuberant celebrations. There are numerous cultural ev ...
. In 2003 Gerald Achee and VDOF released an album ''Historic Travel: cultural rhythms''. In 2009 he recorded an album ''Three Neighbours'' with
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson.
Early life and education
Robinson was born and grew up in New York City. He attended the Len ...
and Joel Chassan. And in the same year – ''Night Train For Lovers And Thieves'' with the Gypsy Groovz Orchestra, which was nominated to the Best Album of 2009 in
World music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
on BBC. Gerald Achee was a member of the
Rastafari movement
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...
.
Style
Gerald Achee (Stage name Gerry Drums) was a
Calypso musician and djembe drummer. In his music, Achee develops traditions of
Count Ossie
Count Ossie, born Oswald Williams (26 March 1926Ancestry.com. Jamaica, Civil Registration Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1878-1995 atabase on-line Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. – 18 October 1976Moskowitz, David V. ...
,
Andre Tanker and
Babatunde Olatunji
Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.
Early life
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nig ...
. His works with
clarinetist
The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson.
Early life and education
Robinson was born and grew up in New York City. He attended the Len ...
and other
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
musicians characterised him as a
free jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
,
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
djembe drummer.
Discography
* 2003: ''Historic Travel: cultural rhythms'' (Village Drums of Freedom)
* 2009: ''Three Neighbours'' (Gerald Achee, Perry Robinson and Joel Chassan)
* 2009: ''Night Train For Lovers And Thieves'' (Gerald Achee and Gypsy Groovz Orchestra)
See also
*
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm () is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rh ...
*
Master drummer In African drumming, the title of master drummer (alternatively called the lead drummer or mother drummer) is given to a drummer who is well known by other masters for their high skill and knowledge. It is a title passed down from a master to their ...
References
External links
Gerald Achee and Village Drums of Freedom official Soundcloud account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achee, Gerald
1952 births
2021 deaths
Avant-garde jazz drummers
Trinidad and Tobago calypsonians
Djembe players
Free jazz drummers
Master drummers
Performers of Rastafarian music
Trinidad and Tobago drummers
Male drummers
Free improvising musicians
Male jazz musicians