It’s not unusual to see Summer in the Park officials selling wristbands from the corner of Judge and Lakeshore this time of year.
But what you don’t normally see is African drummers performing in the nearby parking lot during rush hour traffic.
Justine Gogoua was one of the performers.
She’s from the Ivory Coast and is one of the 15 performers that will be taking part in the first ever Drum and Dance Festival which will be part of the Summer in the Park festivities August 4th to 6th in North Bay.
Gogoua moved to North Bay after traveling through the city as a performer back in 2009. After the visit she knew she wanted to move here.
“A few years ago we moved here and I love it. I have all my entire family here and they love it,” she said.
“It’s a good place for family, for children. We have a young family with teenagers so that’s how I ended up here. I came here as an artist, fell in love with the city, and here I am now as a member of the community.”
Gogoua introduced her drumming culture to Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Anthony Rota, who was put on the spot on Lakeshore drive to perform with her and her partner.
“I did not expect it and I was not ready. I am not a musician. I do love music but like my wife says she can tell what I’m singing by the words, not by the tune I’m singing. So it was quite the experience playing the drums and it sounded great I thought,” said Rota.
The North Bay & District Multicultural Centre is partnering with the local Drum and Dance Festival.
“Something that we see working at the North Bay Multicultural Centre is that folks are often surprised at how many newcomers, how many cultures, how many languages are spoken here. So this is really an opportunity to show off the diversity that’s in Canada but also that’s here,” said Meg Ramore, the Multicultural Centre’s Immigration Partnership Coordinator.
While Gogoua’s drum style may be new to many North Bayites, she believes drumming really brings the community together. She has even used her drumming as a way to preach an anti-violence message.
“We don’t want to use a weapon, we don’t want to use a knife. The only thing we have is a drum, and remember drums are the ancestors of any communication tool before radio, TV or even iPhones. Before that the drum was there for different celebrations,” said Gogoua.
“There’s drumming celebrating the birth of a baby, and drums even to celebrate a death because death is not always seen as something of sadness. We can say goodbye to somebody through drumming - or even drumming to celebrate a boy or girl going into manhood or womanhood.
“You can only bring to your community who you are and having an African background I witnessed a lot of violence, and I say, 'you know what how can I turn that into something positive and as an artist I am only using a drum to celebrate positivity among our youth'.”
