Rasaki's Drums and Nigeria's Yorubá gives a short (30 min.) introduction to a fascinating culture to which a large number of African Americans can trace their roots. Using an interview with the charming Yorubá master drummer Rasaki Aladokun supplemented by shots of masquerade dancing, a clip from a Shangó festival, street scenes in. southern Nigeria and the like, the documentary film looks at the drums and rhythms of Nigeria's Yorubá (in West Africa), and their important place in the community.

Rasaki Aladokun, our star, is a former drummer with the group of King Sunny Adé, the "King of Juju Music". He now lives in Oakland, California and after talking about drumming and his life in Nigeria, near the film's end, he also tells us about drumming in the United States, including for religious practices in the Yorubá and larger West African communities.

We anticipate that the film will be of particular interest to African Americans and of course to percussionists and other musicians who will appreciate the explanations of the drums and rhythms, and the short lessons/demonstrations which will allow them to add new material to their musical vocabulary. It is worth pointing out that Yorubá drums and culture have had a major impact on Brazil, as well as Cuba and other Caribbean countries

Looking at it from a broader perspective, this film has the additional aim of emphasizing that Africa is a huge and highly complex continent with many different cultures and ethnicities, many of which, like the Yorubá, have a long and rich history.

In sum, this documentary is intended as an introduction, one that will entertain as well as inform, and should interest both musicians and a sophisticated general public willing to look beyond Eurocentric material to learn about other parts of the world, which for some will be to a culture directly related to their own family history.