Boom. Boom. Boom.

His fluid hands fell into a rhythmic groove. Moving. Shaking. Pounding against the African djembe drums Monday night before a crowd of 30 students who listened to Collette Mabingani.

Born and raised in South Africa, Mabingani has experienced brutalities of the South African apartheid and tells of his experiences through his music, playing instruments such as the piano, bass and djembe.

Inside Central Michigan University's School of Music, Mabingani played traditional South African music and answered questions from the curious crowd afterward.

Ohio sophomore Andrew Walker is the president and founder of The Collective for Music Research and Cultural Studies and said that Mabingani's playing Monday night is essentially what the group stands for- diverse music.

Their goal is to create awareness for musically diverse things.

"We have been trying to put on events like this where we utilize a kind of a musically diverse interest or focus," Walker said. "This opens it up, and we try to stay away from being limiting to just music students."

Walker also said much music tends to be on the traditional side, and there are not a lot of opportunities for world music.

"Collette has a great story of  how he got from South Africa to here; it is unique and also captivating and capturing through South African culture," said Walker. "I think he does a fantastic job of capturing the sense of African culture, and for me when Collette plays djembe, you can't help but smile, especially because he is a master drummer and his skills are pretty impressive."

GCM photo by Sherri Keaton

By Sherri Keaton