Layne Redmond - Percussionist, Teacher, Bee Priestess

[kentauros]

Layne Redmond passed on Sunday, and I only just checked on my FB wall for the first time in over a month. This was at the top of the page, for those that may not be on FB:

To Begin Again...
Yesterday in Asheville, North Carolina
Layne has left her body behind today, but her spirit (as we have always known) will continue to live on...in the words and songs she so graciously chose to share...in the rhythms and traditions carried on by those around the world. Today, we may cry, but forever we will smile, knowing the life you gave us. Thank you Layne!

-Daniel

I know it has already begun, but please share the news with other ones who know or love or know and love Layne, and feel free to send your kind words and thoughts in her direction.

I never met her but fell in love with her percussion prowess and musical talent back in the 1990s. I had gotten her first CD and used to play it fairly often on my radio show, especially when I was in a mood for three hours of percussion music. In recent years, I emailed her to let her know that I had given her the airplay, and she was quite happy to hear it, as was I to share her talent with the local population.

And if y'all have not heard of her, look up some of her videos on YT, whether the instructional ones or the performance pieces. All amaze me, such as the seeming ease of playing complex (and sometimes ancient) rhythms. She'll be missed, and yet, we can continue to enjoy what she gave us all.

[BlueToTheBone]

1. Thank you for the news. I was very inspired

by her book When Women Were Drummers. She will be missed her on Planet Earth.

[kentauros]

2. Layne had been working on an eBook version of that book,

and I had been waiting for it, versus trying to find a copy of the print version (it's out of print.) Maybe my library has a copy.

Do you play a drum? I'm interested, yet I know my sense of rhythm is lacking. Still, I do love Layne's style of frame drum playing and the way she could make those mesmerizing rhythms with a tambourine. She taught and inspired many people, so we'll see them continuing her work to some extent.

[icymist]

3. Wow! All that with a tambourine!

Very inspiring, thank you for sharing. I'm sorry to hear that she has passed on.

[kentauros]

4. You're welcome

You might want to look for her music, especially the album Invoking Aphrodite. The chants are from her research into Ancient Greece, and are chanted in the original Greek. It's quite interesting and powerful. Her research also helped her discover that those ancient drummers were the keepers of the bees. I think all of her blogs are still up, and linked to her main site. There's one just on the Bee Priestess, called "Sacred Path of the Bee."

I never met her, though I did trade emails a couple of times. She was always sweet and happy to converse (I think I made her day in one of them when I mentioned I had played her album "Since the Beginning" on public radio; she truly appreciated the airtime.) Yet, I felt touched by her work, and realizing that she is gone is still difficult to believe. Her music inspired and just plain entranced.