Earthy, pulsating sounds from the djembe reverberate in your ears as you watch Pune-based drummer Varun Venkit play this West African instrument in a YouTube video. The ex-Agnee drummer is India’s only certified djembe professor by Tam Tam Mandingue — an international academy (with branches in over 12 countries) set up by the African djembe grandmaster Mamady Keita. Playing this instrument for five years now, he is also the founder of Pune-based Taal Inc (an organisation that conducts drum circles) and its band, Rhythm Ensemble, the only one in India to perform traditional Western Folk Music.

Today evening, Venkit will conduct a workshop in Mumbai to introduce djembe to music enthusiasts and also share its cultural connect with West Africa. “We will show a live demo of what a djembe ensemble sounds like and screen parts of Djembefola, a documentary on the life of Mamady Keita,” shares the percussionist, who fell in love with this instrument after watching the same documentary in 2009.