Interview with Andre Harris: 'Memory Making' fundraiser and his Power of Drums

Andre, what first inspired you to play drums?
Andre: Good question, I've always loved drums, but I had never played them. And I didn't start playing until I was in my forties!

I used to be a youth worker and was on a retreat. As part of the retreat, we had activities, and one day this guy came with a load of drums. He did drum circle work, and I thought, 'Wow! This is brilliant.'

And then - I don’t know where it came from - I just thought, 'I could do that'. I didn’t have a drum. I’d never really played a drum (I used to go to a church that had some drums and I’d just mess around on them). Then, when I worked with young people, I was asked to do some drumming with them and the children. So it started to happen.

Remember, I’m not trained - I’d never drummed before - so I just made it up! But people started asking me to drum with them. I had the women’s group ask, 'Can you do some drumming for us?' and the men’s group, 'Can you do some drumming for us?'

I'm making all this up - by the way - making up rhythms, making up things. But it spread - and other people were asking me to drum for them. I began thinking there’s a common theme going on here - I need to get myself some skills. So I went and found a course in Scotland. It didn’t teach you how to drum. The course taught you how to lead and facilitate a drum circle, so they expected to be able to drum already…

You don’t need to be able to drum to facilitate; it’s a skill for bringing people in and mixing things around. I went on the course, and I learnt so much. It gave me so much confidence.

The only thing now was that I didn’t have any drums. I started going into schools, but had to borrow drums. I’d borrowed from church, a school, and another place, I’d put them together, and then I’d go out and do my drumming groups. It was very organic, and then word-of-mouth would spread that Andre does drums! 

It came to the point where I had to decide whether to carry on with this. I was getting so much joy from it, and so were other people. That’s when I started my organisation, The Power of Drums. I bought more equipment, built it up, and it has grown from strength to strength. 

Did you involve the community straight away?
Andre: I started doing sessions at The Priory - just free sessions, once a week. Anyone could join in, and it just went from there. I’ve worked with young people with learning difficulties, in care homes, nursery-aged children, with people who are partially sighted, people with dementia, and with stroke victims where some could only use one hand.

The range of groups that I have worked with astounds me. The good thing about drumming with a djembe drum is that it is very accessible. A three-year-old and an 83-year-old can both play a djembe drum with little direction. 

That’s the beauty about drumming: it’s not about how good you are, it’s not about if you can play a drum, it’s about the community coming together. It’s about enjoying it. And expressing yourself on the drum. There’s no competition - it’s just about letting yourself go and having fun. 

What was it that drove you to organise the Memory-Making Event?
Tom: My dad, unfortunately, had a cancer diagnosis in the last six months and has been having treatment. This fundraiser is to raise funds to continue my dad’s treatment.

I thought it would be a way to bring people together, because my dad has done a lot of work throughout his life for the community - through charitable work, and through therapeutic drumming. It will be a great way to connect all of those dots, and to learn and acknowledge just how many people my dad has worked with. It felt important to bring that to the surface and bring it to life, so it can be seen by ourselves, and can be used as a way to inspire others.

The impact he's had is huge, and we want to bring those stories into the light - for us, for him, and for everyone else. We want this gathering to inspire, to help raise funds for my Dad’s treatment - but more than anything - to celebrate the love and connections he’s built.

It's more than a fundraiser, really; it’s about the message behind my Dad's work as a practitioner of music and community, bringing people together. Our main goal was to raise awareness, see the positive in our situation, and celebrate it. It's a project of self-advocacy: telling the story of what is possible - and in life, we're learning what's possible.

It seemed like my dad did something quite miraculous, in some sense. So let's learn about it, celebrate it, look at it, connect all those dots, and raise awareness for making memories. That’s the thing, if you don't bring awareness to something, it’s just like you can't see it. I think it's a good thing for people to see; to bring awareness to what he’s done for his community.

Is this your form of giving your dad his flowers?
Tom: Yes, not just me, but also everyone else he's worked with.  But yes, from me - but it’s more than that. There's a bigger picture, my dad has been a father to me, but he’s also been a mentor and a role model not just for me, but for many others. I feel like there is another chance for them to reconnect, for those memories to resurface, for that acknowledgement to happen. For a celebration to happen. 

There's a lot of joy in my dad’s work and in his music. It is about celebration, it’s about positivity, it’s about love. That should be the loudest voice in the room.

What can the community expect on the day?
Andre: The community can expect a range of music and activities. Not just music, there’s going to be performances. There will be drumming because Djembe is my speciality, it’s my area. There will also be soloists - we’ve got a gospel singer, people doing spoken word poetry, and we've got someone playing a Cora. 

There will be a mix of music playing. But we really want to open this up to the community, to the people who know me, or worked with me in the past - and have a celebration. Just like Tom said, to celebrate what I've done now that I can’t do what I used to be able to. Drumming was my dream. It was my joy, and it’s been a difficult time these last six months. I can't do it. 

So, Tom put this event together to say thank you to me, really. To thank me for what I've done for him and the community. I appreciate this so much. Honestly, it’s heart-touching, it really is. So the event is about the community, and me saying thank you to the community for the work that I’ve done in the past.

Memory Making, a fundraiser event for Andre’s cancer treatment will be held 2-10pm, Saturday 14 March at Bestwood Lodge, Arnold. We wish them both well and every success, more information here.

Donate to directly support Andre's cancer treatment here. Join Andre's community drumming circle and legacy project, Power of Drums here.