Owusu Slater champions African and Caribbean sounds. — Photo by Yeshvir Daamineni

"When most people talk about drumming, they talk about African drumming, meaning West African," says Owusu Slater. "But I wouldn’t say that. I would encourage listeners to explore rhythms from the Caribbean, Brazil, and the smaller, Eastern Caribbean islands."

Although Slater plays a number of different hand drums, he specializes in the djembe and has done so for the past 20 years. Most djembe players focus on West African rhythms, but he hails from St. Vincent and The Grenadines and tries to maintain that Caribbean viewpoint in his sound. His pieces usually are grounded in Calypso, Reggae, Shango, and Latin genres.

But he also sees the role of a musician as one that means more than just creating for the purposes of entertainment or making money, but also as a means of educating. "My whole perspective as an artist comes from the idea of culture as a way of life," he says. "Art is the voice for which people come to grips with reality and take action on it."

Slater fulfills that social message through his involvement in various organizations. He’s a resident at the Biko Center, an artist collective on Bushwick Ave. that provides a platform for locals to express themselves; he’s a member of the African Folk Heritage Circle, a non-profit that works to continue the African oral tradition; he plays in the Old Lady of Victory Church Choir; and he’s part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, which works to sustain and progress the genre in the borough.

If you haven’t heard him drumming in any of these groups, you might have noticed him during your daily commute: he also plays with two other drummers at most of the major subway stations in the city.

If the club is your thing, you might have seen him at some of the dance parties in the late nineties. Slater, along with three other drummers,
used to play live at techno parties at a club called
Chaos on Houston St..

For those of you interested in learning more about Caribbean sounds, he recommends a book called Caribbean Currents. "It covers a diverse array of music and places it in a historical context," he informs us.

Owusu, Robert Drum, and Nkuiijaa — "Heaven and Earth"

The song "Heaven and Earth" was played by Slater along with his two partners from his iron horse gigs, Robert Ogaro and Nkuiijaa. The instruments used are two djembes, a conga, and a saxophone. And, yes, these rhythms are indeed African.

See more on Bushwick Music.