Drumming up supportBy Maria Dowdall Stapleton, Feature Writer
Published: December 07, 2008, 23:31
Get to know your primal self – enrol for a Full Moon drumming session with Dubai Drums.
As I clambered out of the back of a large Jeep and moved towards the sound of an incessant drumbeat, I thought for a moment I had stepped back in time. Looking down into the moon-lit valley from the top of a nearby sand dune, I saw a large crowd assembled in the middle of a Bedouin camp, each member of the group banging fervently on a drum.
As I edged closer to the group, and the comforting smell of shisha and shawarma engulfed me, I was jostled back to the present by the shouts of encouragement coming from the antipodean lady who was leading the group. This was no tribal gathering, but rather a miscellany of people who had travelled from the surrounding metropolis to experience Full Moon drumming – an event hosted by Dubai Drums, the brainchild of New Zealander Julie Ann Odell.Departing the corporate world seven years ago, Odell decided to follow her passion and travelled to America and South Africa to study drumming. "Six years on, I can speak the language of rhythm," she says. The first Full Moon Drumming event was in April 2005 and now it happens every month during the accommodating winter climate.
"Each event attracts 400 people, 300 adults and approximately 100 children," Odell says.
"I have to turn away about 200 people each month."The widespread popularity of the event surpassed even Odell's expectations. "I now get e-mails from people all over the world asking me when a particular event will be. They will plan their trip to Dubai around it," she says.
"In April 2008, we had two classes of pupils who had travelled from Syria."
Odell believes the popularity of the event can be attributed to people's desire to channel their primal instinct. "Drumming is accessible to everyone and rhythm allows people to align with mother earth," she says. "Our ancestors used to drum under the full moon and it is still natural for us to synchronise rhythm with it."
As a first-time drummer, I was highly sceptical that I would feel any sort of unity in banging a drum with a bunch of strangers. However, as I relaxed into the downbeat and found myself being coaxed into singing African tunes by master drummer, Atsu, I felt my inhibitions flee. I looked around me and realised others were experiencing the same sense of freedom, as Odell smiled on.There was more to the event than the five drumming sessions. As I drummed, I noticed there were a lot of people who were not drumming but were content to wander around the camp, eating and socialising. Apart from henna and camel rides, the children and those who are young-at-heart amused themselves by sliding or boarding down the surrounding sand dunes.
"Not everyone will drum at each session. 
At each event, I only have 200 drums," says Odell. "This also allows people to move around and speak to one another." During the next drumming session I met Simeon and Terri, an American couple who work at American University of Sharjah, who had come on the advice of colleagues, who are frequent drummers. "It is so energetic and beautiful that I feel my stress dissipating," says Terri.Kareem, who has been three times before, found the drumming therapeutic. "Every time it is more different and more amazing," he says. "This free-spirited, unity helps balance the soul."
I left some time before midnight and much to my surprise, as I made my way up to the waiting Jeep, I found myself bewitched by the moon and I realised I felt significantly less world-weary than when I first arrived.
Odell believes people come to the event with a strong desire to find peace through the unity of a drumbeat. Perhaps there is some truth in her words, not to mention her drums.
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Dubai Drums - "Great Outdoors"
