Kornerstone’ takes voice of talking drum to Plymouth
ACETNews
Plymouth came alive with the vibrant colours, sounds and flavours of Nigeria as members of Nigerian community and friends gathered for a special Nigerian Cultural Day celebrating music, heritage, food, performance and community.
Hosted recently by Toskel Community Heritage and Culture CIC, the event provided a lively platform for Nigerians and the wider Plymouth community to connect with the richness and diversity of Nigerian culture. Traditional and contemporary music, cultural performances and indigenous cuisine created an atmosphere of celebration, nostalgia and shared identity.
At the centre of the musical experience was Samuel Adebisi, aka ‘Kornerstone’, a talented talking drummer and percussionist, whose energetic performance brought the distinctive rhythms of Nigeria to life. His mastery of the talking drum and other percussion instruments provided a powerful reminder of the important role music plays in preserving and transmitting African cultural traditions.
His performance demonstrated the enduring power of traditional African rhythm within a contemporary diaspora setting.
Adebisi’s performance was more than musical accompaniment. It was a reminder that the talking drum remains a sophisticated instrument of communication, capable of carrying rhythm, emotion and cultural memory.
The event also provided Adebisi the opportunity to perform alongside veteran Nigerian contemporary and urban highlife and Afro-jazz musician, Jesse King famously known as ‘Buga’. Buga is recognised for incorporating traditional African drums and Yoruba cultural elements into contemporary music, describing his own practice as Afrocentric and rooted in heritage.
Adebisi approaches percussion not simply as a supporting musical function but as a form of cultural expression. His talking-drum performance gave the Nigerian Cultural Day celebration an unmistakably African rhythmic foundation, creating moments of dialogue between percussion, melody and voice.
His strength lies in his ability to make the drum feel conversational. The talking drum is capable of mimicking the tonal movement of speech, and Adebisi uses that quality to create a performance that feels responsive rather than mechanical. His playing interacts with the musical environment, allowing rhythm to become part of the conversation between performers and audience.
The appearance alongside Jesse King ‘Buga’ was one of the defining moments of Adebisi’s performance.
Buga’s music is rooted in contemporary highlife and Afro-jazz while drawing strongly on African traditions, Yoruba language, proverbs and cultural expression. He has described himself as a custodian of culture and history and an advocate for preserving heritage through music.
Adebisi’s talking drum therefore found a natural partner in Buga’s sound.
The collaboration demonstrated that traditional percussion does not have to exist separately from contemporary African music. Instead, it can provide the rhythmic vocabulary through which contemporary musicians reconnect with cultural memory. For Adebisi, the experience was clearly significant.
“Performing with Buga was deeply rewarding for me because I wasn’t just playing the drum; I was connecting with a musician whose work carries so much of our culture,” Adebisi said after the performance.
He added: “There is something special about playing the talking drum alongside an artist like Buga. You can feel the connection between the old and the new. The drum speaks, and his music gives that voice another dimension.”
On what made the collaboration memorable, he reflected:
“I enjoyed every moment of it. As a cultural musician, it is rewarding when traditional instruments are given space on a contemporary stage. It shows that our heritage is not something we should put away. We can carry it forward.”
For communities living away from their countries of origin, music can become a powerful means of cultural continuity. Instruments such as the talking drum carry associations that extend beyond sound: they evoke ceremony, communication, celebration and collective memory. At Nigerian Cultural Day, Adebisi’s performance demonstrated how such traditions can remain active rather than merely commemorated. For audiences in Plymouth, this created an experience that was both celebratory and culturally meaningful.
Samuel Adebisi ‘Kornerstone’s performance at Nigerian Cultural Day in Plymouth demonstrated the continuing relevance of traditional African percussion within contemporary diaspora culture.
His work as a talking drummer and percussionist gave the event a distinctive rhythmic identity, while his collaboration with Jesse King ‘Buga’ provided a particularly compelling example of cultural continuity. The meeting of Adebisi’s traditional rhythmic language with Buga’s contemporary highlife and Afro-jazz demonstrated that African musical heritage can evolve without becoming disconnected from its roots.
The talking drum became a bridge, between generations, between traditional and contemporary music, and between African cultural heritage and its expression in Britain.
“The greatest reward is knowing that the sound of the drum can still bring people together,” Adebisi reflected. “Wherever we are in the world, when that rhythm begins, something in us remembers home.”
At Nigerian Cultural Day, Samuel Adebisi did more than play percussion. He allowed the drum to speak, and Plymouth listened.
Beyond entertainment, the celebration served as a cultural bridge, bringing generations and communities together while introducing aspects of Nigerian heritage to a wider audience. The food, music, performances and social interaction combined to create an experience that was both educational and celebratory.
