COLUMN: Carillon Flashback – Family marches to beat of hand drum

A Steinbach father-daughter team is hoping their recently established small business will help the Christian church fully recapture the use of the hand drum in worship.

Dale Reimer, a worship leader at Calvary Chapel in Steinbach, and his daughter Stephanie, have been manufacturing and selling handmade African djembe drums for the last year.

They hope their small business, called Catecho Drums, continues to grow; however, they also hope to see the use of the hand drum re-established in the church.

Catecho is a Greek word meaning “take hold of,” Reimer notes, adding the company name reflects their desire to see the church repossess the use of the drum.

“Drums were used by King David to worship God, but over time, the church lost the use of the drum. We would like to see it come back into use.”

The idea for the family business was planted by Stephanie. An owner of a djembe for about three years, Stephanie suggested at Christmas of 1998, that they should make one of their own as a father/daughter project.

In response, her father cut down an 85-year-old tree in the bush surrounding the family home, a few miles south of Steinbach.

That first drum was formed entirely by hand, with the interior chiseled out and the exterior decorated with a wood inlay of a Hebrew letter.

The stainless steel ring to hold the skin to the drum was made by an uncle. Maintaining the skin tension was string applied in what is known as Mali weave.

Either goat or calf skins for drums made to date have come from a Winnipeg music store, but in the future will be produced locally.

Either oak or birch is the wood being used, and the result is a beautiful instrument capable of producing a mellow, two-note sound.

Stephanie learned about the instrument while hitchhiking to the west coast. A fellow traveller she met in Kelowna taught her the basics of the beat, she recalls, noting many of the young people she met on the road played a variety of portable instruments. They would jam together and entertain on the street, she said.

One large drum the Reimers made this year came from the wood of a 90-year-old tree planted by pioneer Jacob F. Reimer on Hanover Street in Steinbach.

Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Reimer says there is probably a limit to how long he will be able to continue making the drums.

Taking medication for the ailment, Reimer remains optimistic and says he just has to take it one day at a time.

Parkinson’s disease is not well understood by many people, Reimer feels.

One of the side effects, for instance, is depression.

“People are always telling me to cheer up. They think you’re unhappy, but it’s not that at all.”

Reimer has been told his illness will continue to develop for the next eight to ten years.

with files from Tim Plett