An Alien Lost Among Drums

February 10, 2000

What a nice change from outer space! People on earth are accepting of others. They don't roll their eyes when someone walks to the middle of the room and begins throwing their body in all directions, swinging their arms, and moaning. It is not labeled primitive, silly, or childish to make music with a drum. In outer space, aliens would laugh and point fingers, stereotyping these awkward creatures as weird, abnormal non-conformists. Yet here on earth, there is no such stereotyping. Everyone is genuinely accepting of others' desires and needs. No one rolls their eyes. What a wonderful place this planet must be.

That woman with the long golden hair is having a conversation yet she is not talking! She is looking at the man two seats down while beating her drum at the same time. He also beats a drum. Her eyes scan from his hands to his face and then back to his hands again. First she seems bewildered by the graceful movement of his hands. She squints and stretches her neck out of line with her shoulders as if she is trying desperately to figure out the solution to a difficult math problem. Suddenly, the corners of her lips begin to curl upward and she nods her head. As if she has figured out the problem, her eyes again meet the man's eyes and she nods in thanks for his assistance. Her head returns to a confident position and she drums with what appears to be a new feeling of confidence and skill, unlike the bewilderment from seconds earlier. In outer space, a smile and an outstretched neck usually indicates that the alien is enjoying itself. I wonder if it means the same here on earth.

Why is the blond woman the only one smiling? Oh, wait, the black man by the door is also smiling. Are they the only two drummers enjoying themselves? There are so many facial expressions here in the circle. That woman with the short brown hair has been tapping her fingers to the exact same beat for the past thirty minutes. Everyone else hits the drum with their entire hand but she uses only her fingers-as if she is sitting in school, anticipating anxiously the termination of the day. Is it possible that she is not enjoying herself? Might she be bored by the monotony of her very own fingers?

How elegant that man must be! His hands are delightful to watch; they are unlike the beating hands of the other drummers. Rather than hitting the drum directly by moving his hand from the air to the drum, his wrist thrusts his hand in a diving, circular motion before beating the drum. He seems to be feeling something more than just the upbeat rhythm of the circle. He closes his eyes every few seconds. Is he disgusted by what he sees around him? In outer space, children close their eyes when they are afraid. Maybe he is frightened by what is going on and prefers to look at more pleasant things that can be seen only with eyes closed.

That blond woman is still having her silent conversations with the man two seats down! The energy in the room is being slowly sucked in tighter. The circle of drummers started out so large and despite the growing number of participants, it now feels half the size. People are starting to act differently. They have gone from sitting and drumming to standing and dancing! In outer space, we often go to the theater to watch the dancers. They entertain us; they dance together as one and wear beautiful costumes; they are technically trained and identical to one another in body structure. Here on earth, I imagine the teachers and choreographers are not quite as skilled. The dancers are all doing different things! They do not acknowledge the other bodies dancing in their space and they never make eye contact with the audience. Then again, there is no audience. The drummers are part of the show. For whom are they performing? Perhaps they are not performing at all. Do people here on earth dance for reasons other than performance? It is as if they are all hearing different sounds coming from the drums. If they are all hearing different sounds, they must be feeling different things. Maybe that is why no one is moving in time with another person. What types of things could they be hearing? I would like to hear them.

I will close my eyes and try to hear what they are hearing. My body is fighting with me. It does not want to remain in the chair. It wants to move! First it is drawn to a beat coming from my left. Then it is struck by a new beat from across the room. Did someone new just enter the circle or have I been missing that beat this whole time?

Several years ago we discovered that we weren’t alone in the Universe. In a galaxy not so far away, our people have found a planet named "Earth" by its inhabitants. It wasn’t until last weekend that we decided to send a scout to visit the planet and report back to our army with first hand information. I was that scout and this is what I saw.

First of all, I entered the Earth’s atmosphere, set my craft on "hover," morphed into humanoid form (as a disguise), leapt out of my ship, and accidentally crashed into some kind of large room that was dimly lit with a pair of red and blue lights. Slowly, humans began to trickle into the arena, settling themselves in chairs that were arranged in a semicircular fashion. Once seated, they proceeded to gingerly uncover the long funnel-shaped drums that they were toting. During that initial period, there were some people who cradled their drum while ritualistically rubbing the skin as if they were coaxing an animal of some sort. Others just sat quietly holding their instruments, while some sat tightening the bolts around the drumheads. Eventually, as more people arrived, the room filled with random beats as the humans sat about tapping at their instruments. The drum certainly seemed to be a very dynamic instrument from the incredible range of pitches I heard. It almost seemed from the way that the beats jumped back and forth that the drums were talking with each other. And though there wasn’t any kind of heavy interaction among the congregation, it seemed as if something big was going to happen from the way people were anxiously sounding their instruments every so often, weren’t speaking, and were looking around attentively. It seemed as if everyone was waiting for something.

Suddenly, several drummers joined the pulse that was coming from a single individual and layered their rhythms upon it. After that, the people no longer seemed like separate, uncommunicative, isolated entities, they somehow all became interconnected through a loud, powerful, and swelling polyrhythm. As strange as it might sound, I began to hear different notes and melodies within the beats of the drums. As the night went on, more and more folk arrived and contributed to the dynamic, throbbing living entity. There were temporary pauses within the drumming so that a new rhythm could take root, but for the most part, the group played tirelessly for hours neither slowing nor showing signs of fatigue.

Each drummer had a different style and a unique drum. Each song was full of quick complicated and intricate beats embellishing and built about a very strong basey pulse. The pulse held everything together and was pounded out by a section on the periphery of the circle on huge drums. The music seemed to provoke strong emotions within the members of the circle. Many of the drummers had their eyes closed as if trying to block out any visual stimulus so that they could focus on hearing and feeling the rhythm. Most of these people held their faces to the sky while portraying expressions of relaxation. In some cases, they were smiling. Some even looked euphoric as they rocked back and forth with their brows furrowed, playing their drums passionately and ferociously. The contorted expressions on their faces made it seem as if they were experiencing pleasure that was so intense it was painful.

Eventually many of those who were drumming became overwhelmed with the beat and physically expressed their feelings in dances that were as varied in style as was the drumming. Like how the drummers increased in number throughout the night until a full circle was formed, a growing chunk of the population joined the dancers in the center of the circle as time went by. The dancing didn’t seem conventional or rehearsed as the movements the dancers made varied widely in their ranges and styles. Some stood still or sat on the ground and sang, others spazmed about excitedly, a few waddled around clumsily, while some pranced about adeptly as if they were trained dancers. In this fashion, the dancing was a direct expression of how the drumming touched them. The people danced without inhibition and moved as the music took them. Like the drummers, a few of the dancers were smiling, some looked meditative and relaxed, while others showed contorted expressions of passion and pleasure. It was excitement and happiness in one of its purest forms. The pulse seemed be something very potent that tapped deep into the human soul.

Some of the members of the group seemed close to each other, but everyone was largely physically detached from one another. The assembly was a montage of persons who looked as if they, in their situation previous to the drum circle, led separate lives. I speculate this based on their positions in the circle, their interactions (or lack thereof), and from their clothing. First of all, during the period when the room was a little less packed, many of the Earthlings seated themselves so that they were clustered with the people they arrived with. And the people who came alone (mostly men) would sit alone. Individuals within these small groups of people seemed to know each other from the way that they were positioned near each other, from the way that they were wearing similar styles of clothing, and even from the way that they drummed. I observed the members of these clusters nodding at each other, swaying together to the beat, and in one case, looking intensely into one another’s eyes as they drummed. There was even a pair of women that I observed who were facing each other dancing and making imaginary sculptures with their hands. In most cases, members of these cliques were dressed in similar style clothing that was distinct from what other people were wearing. This visually made the contrast within the drum circle seem even more stark. But beyond those isolated groups of two or three, the group seemed largely broken up and as if they led contrasting lifestyles.

I have concluded from what I saw that everyone in that room belonged to a greater society: one much larger and more chaotic than the one which existed within the drum circle. The fact that the people were wearing a wide spectrum of clothing suggested that the outside world that they came from was immense and filled with different subcultures and styles of living. There were neatly groomed, professional-looking individuals with their dress-shirts, pleated pants, and clip-on name badges. There were "new-age gurus" or hippies (I couldn’t tell what was which) with their baggy pants, tie-dyed shirts, and brightly-colored sheets. And then there were the street kids in their T-shirts and corduroy. The members of the circle also varied in their age. There was a chunk of late teens, a majority of more seasoned adults, and even several elderly folk. It was apparent from these physical cues that the party before me was usually disassociated from one another in their daily routines. Thus, whatever had caused this jumble of people to congregate must have been a powerful force that satisfied a universal need or drive that all the people felt, regardless of how they lived. People who had, previous to that evening, never seen each other before were suddenly united by the sound of the drum. People who had, previous to that evening, led contrasting lifestyles were similarly moved by the rhythm so that they now danced together. What I saw about the culture that I’ve landed in was that it was saturated with people that were so caught up in their fixed life routines and the rules of their society that they’ve begun to lose consciousness and crave for this heightened awareness and spiritual rejuvenation.