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The evolution of the Long Drum was due to the initiative of the group itself. Roy explains " We had also been exposed to the world of African music, and their concept is that of a family of drums. We had the large Lambeg, which was the 'father,' and also the small bodhran, which was the 'child.' We needed a 'mother', and this became our Long Drum!"
In the early days, the membership of the group changed as it developed, but the current line-out has been together for some time. Roy Arbuckle himself plays guitar, bodhran and Lambeg, and also provides vocals. Stephen Matier, a co-founder and band member since its inception, has a background in community arts activity and plays bodhran, Lambeg, Djembe, Tarbuca and bones. He recently resigned from his job as Director of Belfast's Citizens' Advice Bureau to devote all his time to Different Drums. Brendan Monaghan is a multi-talented traditional musician from Banbridge, who is one of Ireland's top exponents of the Uilleann pipes, and he also plays all kinds of whistles. He has recently started playing Scottish Small and Highland Pipes. Kevin Sharkey, from Derry plays Djemebe, snare drum, bodhran, tabla and Lambeg, and started his musical career at 15 in a rock and roll band, later playing with several "progressive rock' groups in and around the city. Rory McCarron, the newest member of the band, returned to Derry in 1998 after recording with Sony and touring extensively with the band "Schtum". He is noted for his powerful and rock-solid sense of rhythm.
The band's breakthrough came in 1998 when they were invited to take part in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin. Since then they have developed a high profile, through extensive television work, participation in music festivals in the USA, Europe and Japan, as well as in keynote events
including special performances for successive Irish Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. More recently they played at the new Odyssey Centre in Belfast, in the presence of President Bill Clinton, British Premier Tony Blair, local Unionist and Nationalist political leaders, and several thousand cross-community representatives.
Other major highlights of the band's career so far include a 1999 visit to the USA as part of a "Both Sides Now" tour with, among others, the noted Irish musicians James Galway and Phil Coulter. They made an historic appearance at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, and on St. Patrick's Day
performed for President Clinton at the White House. Roy Arbuckle comments "It was an amazing experience. I will never forget appearing with Gregory Peck in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and also the fact that there were a number of people from Belfast Shankill Road, a strong Protestant area of the city, among the audience in the Cathedral. We truly broke the mould on that day!"
Last year they returned to the USA where they played in the Kennedy Center in Washington, alongside such established performers as Elvis Costello, Steve Earl, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Sharon Shannon and Mary Black.
The group's engagement book is well-filled, with scheduled appearances later this year in America and the European mainland, as well as in Ireland. Their programme of workshops will also continue, as they literally hammer out the theme of different people marching to the same tunes. Though their success is considerable, they have had their problems.
Roy Arbuckle says " Sometimes our concept has been rejected even before we start to perform. In the early days we had skin-head thugs who created trouble for us in Belfast, and later in Waterford there were Republicans who were not too happy that we were using the Lambeg drum. To them was a symbol of British ' Imperialism.' These kind of objectors are a minority, and when most people start to listen to what we are doing, all that kind of stuff disappears."
The presence of the Lambeg drum in their ensemble, however, remains a definite talking-point. Roy says " The Lambeg has a kind of edge for Catholic people because of its association with the Orange tradition. That is not the fault of the drum. The underlying question is ' Who is the drum playing for?' To an extent we are dispelling the territorial dimension of the Lambeg, and presenting it in its own right as a musical instrument. " I like to think that for some people we are putting the Lambeg onto a different level. For many Catholic people their participation in a workshop the only time they have an opportunity to touch, feel and hear a Lambeg. We are not presenting ourselves as Lambeg drummers. It is a dying tradition in lots of ways, and it would be sad if it were lost, because it is unique to Ulster. There is nothing else like it in the world. I know that a number of other groups have been sparked off by us to do something similar in their own way."
Undoubtedly, the group is crossing barriers-musical and otherwise-as it brings its unique sounds to people who never dreamt that traditional Irish instruments and Lambegs could blend in such harmony. Roy Arbuckle treasures one remark made to him by a Protestant, after a hugely-acclaimed concert to a large cross-community audience in Belfast's Waterfront Hall. "He said to me ' You have done for the Lambeg what Riverdance has done for Irish dancing."
In Northern Ireland terms, that is real progress.
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