FREE West African Drumming Workshop for Families

Join us at Westminster Music Library for a free, family-friendly workshop in African Drumming. No musical experience is required to take part in this fun music-making session.

This session is designed for families with children. Children of all ages are welcome to take part, and parents/guardians are encouraged to join in! All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Booking Notes:

Advance booking is required for this session. As we have a limited number of drums, please ensure you book enough tickets for every family member who wishes to participate. One ticket = one drum.

Attendees will receive an email prior to the workshop asking them to confirm their attendance; if you do not confirm your attendance, your booking will be cancelled to make space for someone on our waitlist.

If the session you are interested in is fully booked, please join the waitlist. We often have waitlist slots become available in the days leading up to the workshop.

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Adults without children can book onto our adult-only session by clicking here.

This session will be run by Seneke Sillah from Mbilla Arts.

Seneke is Mbilla Arts' lead musician and was a founding director of the company. Seneke was born in The Gambia in West Africa and from an early age demonstrated a talent for playing mbalax, the traditional music of the Wolof people of The Gambia and Senegal, which is played on sabar drums. In his teens he began playing sabar at social occasions and religious ceremonies with various cultural troupes. Later, he was mentored in the art of playing djembe by master drummers including the late Thomas Camara from Guinea. In his early 20’s he joined groups providing entertainment in the Gambian tourist industry. After moving to the UK in 2004, he began teaching and performing in London. In 2006 he was a co-founder of Mbilla Arts CIC and is the company’s lead musician.

He has over 15 years’ experience leading African drumming workshops and performing in corporate, education and community settings in the UK.

Founded in 1948, Westminster Music Library holds one of the largest public collections of sheet music and music books in the UK. We are part of the Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea BiBorough Library Service, and our materials are free to use and borrow.

The library offers regular free events, including weekly lunchtime concerts. To receive updates on forthcoming events, sign up to our mailing list, or view all events across Westminster Libraries and Archives on Eventbrite.

Click here to find out how you can support your library by making a donation or volunteering your time.

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We regret that there is no step-free access to the Music Library. Further accessibility information is available on our website.

Please contact us on 0207 641 6200 or musiclibrary@westminster.gov.uk to further discuss accessibility at our library.