The Instrument That Saved the Band, Thanks Gabe

Gabe always thinks that if his life was a movie, he would be stuck in one of those depressing montage scenes where the main character walks down the street in the rain with a broken guitar and a cold coffee. Although you know in his case, there was no rain (yet) and the coffee was still hot, but his guitar was a little rickety. He is the leader of the band “Los Relámpagos Urbanos”. He has been in the band for years and has given everything for it, the truth is that she is everything to him. Well, that and his cat Klaus, who had an amazing ability to hide just when he needed it. So far everyone in the band gets along very well and there have been no major problems, well some but nothing that can’t be solved. Together they have traveled half the world on tours and concerts and you can say that they have been on top many times.

But you know, lately, after these years of success, it seems that the batteries of the whole band are running out. They have been playing half-empty concerts for the last few months and some members of the group want to impose their criteria over the others. In addition, some have had a lot of egos. This situation has reached a point that is unsustainable and the group is about to split up after so many years together. Even with all this problem that grew a little more every day, Gabe continues to look for solutions. One Thursday, something happened that seemed straight out of a movie and he decided by pure chance to take a walk around the city. Above all, looking for some inspiration to help the group.

He started to take a walk around the market. It was not his idea of ​​a great plan, but being locked up with his bandmates was like spending time in a pressure cooker about to explode almost literally. He started to look around the stalls, and in one there was a man who was selling handmade instruments. There were all kinds, most of them he did not know because they were from other countries and cultures. He started looking at them and that's when he saw a rather peculiar drum. It was small and worn, it looked like it had been used. The sign where it was for sale said it was a "Djembe" and it cost $20.

He asked the guy selling it, “What the heck is a djembe?” The guy told him it was an African drum. Very versatile because it can be used in many musical genres. He then showed him how to play it. Gabe found it very interesting and thought that maybe it would be good to merge it with his rock band, no one had done anything like it up until that point so maybe that would give them more popularity and maybe even as a remote possibility he would join the group again in some way. The next day he brought the drum to rehearsal, but things didn’t go exactly as he expected or perhaps as he imagined.

He was bombarded with questions, “What is that?” “What is it for?” and others just said, “What a boring instrument.” Sarah the guitarist burst out laughing. “Are we a tamborin cover band now?” Gabe of course tried to explain his vision of combining djembe rhythms with rock to create something new, or perhaps fresh. So that way some spark could come back to the group, the one they once had. But the band wasn’t convinced. “If you wanted to be a hippie, you could have told me earlier,” said Jimmy the bass player, while Sarah continued to laugh.

Even though some people made fun of him on this first occasion with the new instrument he didn't give up. In fact it wasn't the first time he brought a new instrument to the group. In the past he brought the maracas and the tuba. But those didn't seem to fit in well with the style of the group. That's why some of the group were a bit wary. He spent the next few weeks playing the drum all the time, sometimes in the middle of rehearsals to annoy Jimmy, although he did it as a joke. And it worked even though it seemed unlikely. Because little by little, the other members began to get interested, even if they didn't admit it openly.

It was Sarah herself who laughed who finally made the first move, adding some notes that joined with the djembe in a way that no one expected because everyone liked the result. Jimmy not wanting to be left behind, began experimenting with drum and bass patterns that complemented each other well. Gabe never told him, but he was sure that Jimmy had been secretly watching tutorials. If not, where did he get all that experience with the instrument? But at that moment he didn't want to tell them anything, it was better to leave them with their enthusiasm.

Everyone slowly realized that this little drum had a lot of potential. Maybe more than they ever imagined. Plus, no one else was making this kind of peculiar music, so everyone was inspired again. They did a little live performance in a park, and several of their fans were saying, “This isn’t rock or anything I’ve ever heard before, but I like it,” said a man wearing a band T-shirt. Now that they were inspired, the band decided to take it further. They sold what they could to finance a trip to Africa, where they learned directly from local musicians.

It was a trip full of ridiculous anecdotes, like the time Jimmy mistook every food for “deadly spicy” or when Klaus, who also traveled (because Gabe insisted he couldn’t leave him alone, his cat) escaped on a beach and ended up being rescued by a group of children who adored him as if he were a king. They were very funny experiences but they taught them all a lot. They understood better the culture that surrounds this instrument and how to get the most out of it.

When they returned to the city, “Los Relámpagos Urbanos” were no longer the same in many ways. Because now their songs had stories in their lyrics, the ones they learned on the trip. The djembe became the instrument that united the band and now it is the central instrument. Gabe is the one in charge of playing it. They didn’t become superstars, but they got back together and that’s what mattered, and all because of Gabe.

Credits: The images used are free to use and royalty free. They were taken from pixabay.