Bismillah – in Allahs Name, with the intention of reviving the daff in Muslim homes.
It’s been a pleasure to take a passion for drumming and turn it into a global social impact enterprise over the last 18 year Alhamdulilah. Over the years I’ve been keen to add creativity and accessibility not only to the curriculum and classes but also to the types of programmes offered.
Last year I came across a few ventures who emphasised connection and growth through a strong network of alumni offerings. Being a part of these programs and continuing as an alumni made me feel like I belonged to something bigger – a movement of sorts, a place and amongst people who were like minded and each passionate about the work to which we were attached.
On reflecting on our network at Desert Echo I realised this is exactly what I’ve been working on building all these years. Alhamdulilah because of the daff classes so many new friendships have been formed, mawlids been organised, new drum schools inspired and even other ventures taken wings through their inspiration with the daff nasheed and salawat. It’s an honour to witness the growth in our student numbers and in their personal skills and confidence MashaAllah.
As we teach and perform city to city year in year out, sometimes it becomes difficult to keep a track of all the previous students. Many have written out to us in a desire to join new classes- but what happens in between the courses?
The alumni network happens.
- Daff Beat of the Month returns! We first started Daff Beat of the Month back in 2010 – 3 websites ago! A way to keep inspired by new drum beats in the nasheed world! We’re so excited to bring it back!
- Month by month we will InshaAllah dedicate a space to share exclusive content for our alumni members.
- The premium blog section (where you are now!) will feature blog posts from our teachers about the latest events experiences and reflections in the space of Islamic devotional art. These musings are exclusively for members only for now!
- The Drummers Circle is where we post our exclusive events. These include 2 x drum circles a month (one for UK/American Timezone and one for UK/Australia time zone), 1 x drummers check in where you can share a performance with the group if you’d like to increase compentency andddd a special monthly seminar about devotional art. This is also a chance for students to interact and ask questions.
- We also have a further two ways you can be in conversation with fellow students: the forum and the WhatsApp group! Benefit engrossed conversations – on pretty much anything you want- drum related or not! This is your space to share!
- The Rhythm Academy is our favourite and newest launch! Here we will share monthly music sheets with nasheed and daff beats to aid you on your journey to be a better drummer.
- And finally, if you signed up in Ramadhan or Rabbi Ul Awwal or obtain a yearly membership you will also benefit from an exclusive one to one with one of our daff teachers!
Alhamdulilah – all this just for a small admin running cost! We hope you will make the most of it and enjoy being part of a growing community. This is just the start and as we grow InshaAllah we hope to include more offerings.
It started with a simple drum beat on a small camel skin drum from Tarim. This took me to Jordan to the hands of a master munshid. And 18 years on, through learning and teaching and learning and teaching we are now able to build a community of Desert Echo Drummers from around the world InshaAllah. It’s been and remains an honour to serve you one daff beat and salawat at a time,
Anjum KasmaniFounder, Desert Echo Daff School