Video: Bringing Drumming to Diablo Valley

If you've sometimes heard a drum circle layering rhythms at Todos Santos Plaza and felt your hips shaking, but had no clue what it was about, please watch the above video.

Patch stopped by  in downtown Concord Monday where students of all ages and levels had gathered for master percussionist Benjamin Ofori’s weekly drum circle.

In addition to the drum circles and live performances, Ofori recently began teaching children at Alice’s Montessori School on Putnam Boulevard in Walnut Creek, where kids have responded positively, said Matthew Thrun, the school's director and one of Ofori's students.

“Parents love it," said Thrun. "They’re telling me their children are going home and drumming and banging on everything. There’s a lot of enthusiasm about it.”

Ofori also holds drum circles in the , and teaches private and group lessons.

No experience is needed to participate in the drum circles. Ofori provides drums for those who do not have their own.

Ofori tells Patch he began playing drums at a young age with his father, whom he said was a chief cultural teacher. 

"Everything that I’m doing here is real. It is not something somebody went and learned, studied. I was born into it," said Ofori. He was a member of the performing company of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana.

For more information about Benjamin Ofori's traditional drumming, visit www.bodaccultural.org.