Posts by Month: April 2016

Belle Femme du Village

Drawing Process and Tutorial

Artwork Apr 26 2016

At festivals in the village, which were almost always accompanied by much drumming and dancing, the women of the village were always singing and playing their karignon — a hollow tube of metal tied to their finger and stuck rhythmically with a striker. Dozens of these bells played together by many women, with their joyous singing and the exuberant sounds of the traditional djembe and dunun drums, forms quite a powerful musical ensemble. This artwork is included in my book Drawing on Culture: An Artist’s West Africa Travelogue, which is available to purchase here. Belle Femme Du Village 14x17” pencil on bristol by Dave Kobrenski

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Toneholes and Tradition

How a 40,000 year old flute leveled the playing field

Articles, Anthropology Apr 7 2016

Sometime between 40,000 and 45,000 years ago, a group of early humans on a migration route out of Africa, along the corridor of the Danube River valley, carried with them a small but significant object: a flute. Carved from the bone of a griffon vulture, with…

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