
Brought to Trinidad by indentured laborers from India who first arrived in 1845, tassa drumming has become an important marker of Indian Trinidadian cultural identity. The film explores both musical and socio-political elements of tassa performance, focusing on the life and family of noted drummer Lenny Kumar. As the story unfolds, tassa emerges as a metaphor for Indian Caribbean culture, rooted in India while also thoroughly Caribbean.
Release date: November 2019
Runtime: 58 minutes
Funded in part by the Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music, Giorgio Cini Foundation
Graphic design by Charles West
The film is directed by Christopher L. Ballengee, an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor of Music at Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland, USA). Dr. Ballengee’s research on tassa drumming is based on fieldwork in Trinidad and the Trinidadian community in Florida since 2007. He recently completed the inaugural Diego Carpitella Visual Ethnomusicology fellowship at the Giorgio Cini Foundation, and his current work includes co-editing a collection of essays on Indian Caribbean visual and performing arts and developing a comparative project researching dhol-tasha drumming and related genres throughout the Indian indenture diaspora.
Release date: November 2019
Runtime: 58 minutes
Funded in part by the Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music, Giorgio Cini Foundation
Graphic design by Charles West
The film is directed by Christopher L. Ballengee, an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor of Music at Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland, USA). Dr. Ballengee’s research on tassa drumming is based on fieldwork in Trinidad and the Trinidadian community in Florida since 2007. He recently completed the inaugural Diego Carpitella Visual Ethnomusicology fellowship at the Giorgio Cini Foundation, and his current work includes co-editing a collection of essays on Indian Caribbean visual and performing arts and developing a comparative project researching dhol-tasha drumming and related genres throughout the Indian indenture diaspora.