Once again, from Newtown, Johannesburg. Today, we headed back to the Newtown area to the Drum Café. This morning we were greeted by a new guide named Cromwell. He is of Xhosa descent and was raised in a township that we will visit in a couple of days, called Soweto. I immediately loved Cromwell. He is young, hip, and most importantly, a bottomless well of information. Cromwell speaks 7 languages!

The Drum Café is located in an old bus factory, conveniently called, ‘The Bus Factory’. The entire building is full of artists and art-related businesses. We popped into the Artists Proof Studio before our drumming lesson, where we got a hands-on tutorial in screen printing.

We also visited a shop, run by a Xhosa craftswoman, which sells handcrafted items from every region of South Africa. I picked up a beautiful satchel with a picture of a dove hand-stitched into it. The proceeds from the purchase support the fight against poverty in the region where it was made, so it was definitely money well spent.

Then...we drummed! The entire team (except for Jenny, otherwise there would be no video for you to see) sat in a circle each with our own djembe drum. We were led by the amazing Warren Lieberman and we played incredible, original and completely unrehearsed music together. After a complete crash course in African drumming, Warren showed us some traditional African instruments from his massive collection.

Before heading back to the hotel, we went to a famous, jazz club called Kippies, owned by world-renowned musician Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse. Jenny popped into Kippies and charmed Sipho into scheduling an interview for later this week. He invited us to come back later tonight and hear some live South African jazz. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to hear some live music at his club - a little pre-interview research if you will.

I cannot wait to continue our South African musical education.

NEXT: Meet Dr. John Kani at the Apartheid Museum.

Copyright © 2008 ProjectExplorer, LTD. All Rights Reserved.