The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Drummers bring beat to Green
NEW HAVEN — The music drew them in.
People heading for a lunch break, getting off the bus or shopping downtown heard the drums and followed the call.
Musicians with Bergamos Healing Drums had made themselves comfortable Friday near the closed Bennett water fountain at the corner of Church and Chapel streets and just started playing.
The dozen or so initial group of passersby were soon keeping time to the music. Some couldn’t help but break into a dance.
It was the first of many events that Kica Matos, a proprietor of the Green, and Becky Bombero, director of Parks, Recreation and Trees, have scheduled for the two-block center of the city, to focus on the positive.
Bergamos, headed by Rafael Ramos, deputy director of housing code enforcement at the Livable City Initiative, gave up his lunch hour to lead the drummers, who throughout the performance would switch seats with audience members eager to sit in.
Matos, a well-known civic leader, also took a turn on the drums, dancing up the circle to play and dancing away when she was done.
“They stepped forward immediately,” Matos said of the drummers, when she looked for volunteer talent. They want to be part of a group who wish to “return the Green to the people.”
Bombero said Matos is out looking to book performers (at no pay), while the parks director does the scheduling and provides logistical support.
Matthew Byrd stayed for most of the hour that Bergamos drummed on.
“It’s beautiful here. Everyone comes in to play if they want to. It’s your roots,” he said of the Afro-centric sound.
He was visiting Beauty Plus when he heard the drumming and headed for the Green where his brother, Michael Mills, a drummer for decades, was playing. “The energy is amazing,” Matos said. Mills said every summer he plays music at the camp Ramos runs. He said it is not so much to teach neighborhood kids, but to “evoke their spirits. We allow them to be free. When they are in the ’hood, they are restricted . ... We give them love to be free, to set the fire and passion in their hearts. They drum freedom.”
Raphael Joseph was happy he was close by when the music started.
“I love it. That is my culture,” he said. Joseph suggested the next one be scheduled when schoolchildren are around.
Lesley Porter was on the other side of the Green when she heard the drums.
“The music is awesome,” she said, before starting to dance.
Egged on by a friend, Kharisma Redding, who just had a birthday and started a new job nearby, sat in with the group for awhile — just more good karma for a positive week.
“I’m surprised at how many people had time to stop ...,” Ramos said, declaring it a success.
The group plays the second Tuesday of the month from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Bergamos Community Theater at 491 Blatchley Ave. He said it is free and open to the public.
“Just bring your own water and your drum,” he said.
As for the upcoming events: Bregamos Healing Drums will be back next Friday at noon; Sept. 29, the Movimiento Cultural Afro Continental will perform at 2 p.m.; Oct. 6 the Elite Drill Squad and Drum Corps will perform, but the time has yet to be finalized; Nov. 2 Unidad Latina en Accion will have a Day of the Dead event to include performers from Mexico; Elm City Dance Collective will be featured at a later time.