The NEW Blue Jeans Drum Is Here! Trendy? Brash? Or More?

A First For Thunder Valley Drums!

It was bound to happen! The Blue Jeans Drum.

I couldn’t help but contemplate a theme of sorts while happily, almost ecstatically making this lively drum, which marks a bit of a departure from the more traditional-looking drums I generally focus on. First, it was so much fun! And I must confess it seemed a blast from the past as I recalled growing up on the farm wearing jeans long before they became a fashion item. They remain my go-to everyday attire, but in a much larger size! The theme, though, began by  stretching my own interpretation of what a shamanic / spiritually-oriented drum should look like.

It is certainly different from any drum I’ve seen in ceremony, shamanic drum circles, or nearly anywhere else for that matter. It features, not surprisingly, a belt-line from an actual pair of blue jeans, belt loops, zipper and all. That in itself is a subject I’ll attend to in a moment. But first, the rest of the description…

The bright luscious fabric threaded around the jeans comes from a hemmed remnant sash made from a Tibetan Natural Silk Embroidery Hada Khata Scrarf with Eight Auspicious Signs. That’s a mouthful to say (or to write), but it’s actually meant to visually demonstrate a simple premise: Our eyes can sometimes deceive our minds about intention. More on that in a minute too!

A good hint about this drum’s true nature is shyly hidden behind the sash. Peek back there and you’ll find glass beads from Africa, and a large bead made from striated southwest U.S. clay back in the 1960s, all hanging on suede deer lace.

American jeans and a vintage bead, Tibetan sacred cloth, precious African glass beads, and simple suede deer lacing. All have to do with the theme. Add in the reliable drum head, identical to the first drum I ever made when stepping fully onto a shamanic path (which I still use today), made from humble goat rawhide. The drumstick is also covered with denim and accented with suede deer lacing. It’s a cohesive decorating theme, but that’s not the theme I’m meaning to discuss here.

Here’s one more hint— a small piece of Lightning-Struck cherry wood is lashed with copper wire onto the undercarriage.

Beginning to get the idea?

Here it is. To traditionally-minded people like myself, the drum may appear on the one hand to be a refreshing, even trendy, affair. On the other, it can be viewed as rather brash. As I say on the site, “Depending on your generation, this stylish drum can be groovy, rad, Gucci or just plain cool!” Or perhaps it could ruffle some feathers.

But, is there room to think of it as sacred? Hmm…

Everyone, it seems, has a pretty clear idea of what “sacred” means. But when closely-held among differing groups, interpretations of what’s sacred will surely differ, sometimes radically. In religious circles, for example, such insular ideas often lead to conflict, even death.

My take on closer examination of this drum is that it is a projection, an outward expression of my own psychology and heart. Somewhere in that mix lies a solemn oath I made nearly two decades ago when I pledged to Spirit that I would dedicate the remainder of my life in service to all of life, to All That Is.

And the longer I worked with this drum, the more it taught me about my own vow. Life is expression in all of its beautiful and sometimes ugly forms. On this good Earth, it, life, is certainly obliged to comport with the house rules. We bear the burden of surviving the harshness and suffering as much as we thrive on the beauty. This is our collective school.

So when I see the beauty from varying cultures assembled into a single drum, from Africa to Tibet to the United States, then include the animal realms and essential Earth elements gathered onto a wooden frame, all of which were coalesced from All That Is (the Holy), it becomes a life-affirming project. A healing drum. It seems evident, then, that the affirmation of life should be a central tenant of anyone’s definition of sacred.

Our eyes may or may not see something sacred in this drum, or anywhere for that matter. But our hearts know this truth. Life, existence, is sacred, the Holy made manifest on the ground and all around. Sacredness is freedom. Freedom embraces expression, laughter and…and…joy!

We need not hide something so precious behind our own limiting prejudices.

In short, Live Free.

Aho & Namaste,
Bob

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You can see and hear the Blue Jeans Drum HERE