Tama

Tama is a performance piece by artist Yacine Tilala Fall in collaboration with Elijah Rose Williamson. The Wolof tama is an hourglass-shaped talking drum from Senegal, made by the Wolof and Serer people. Its sound mimics human speech and it’s most often played by griots, West African storytellers and oral historians. Inspired by the form and functionality of the drum, this performance consists of a head form worn by two participants that will speak through touch. This work investigates the gesture of sound.

Influenced by Fall’s Senegalese and Mauritanian American heritage, Tama is indicative of the artist ‘s body of work that uses natural materials and the human form to investigate the concepts of heritage, ritual, and function.