Music & Drumming Immersion tour in Benin

Arrive Cotonou. Afternoon: Fondation Zinsou — the permanent collection includes extraordinary Vodoun musical instruments and ritual sound objects. A visual and contextual introduction to Beninese musical traditions across cultures. Evening: VBR guide takes the group to a Cotonou live music venue — the city has a vibrant contemporary music scene rooted in the afrobeat-coupé décalé-traditional fusion that characterises West African coastal urban music.

Transfer to Ouidah (1hr). The Vodoun tradition has some of the most sophisticated drum music in the world — each deity (Orisha/Lwa) has specific rhythms, specific drum patterns, specific call-and-response structures that are inseparable from the ceremony. Rosalie facilitates an introduction to a Vodoun drum ensemble. Drum lesson session 1 (2hrs, all levels) with a traditional drummer — learning the foundational Vodoun polyrhythm.

Transfer to Porto-Novo. The talking drum tradition — dundun, bata — is central to Yoruba cultural life and was carried to the diaspora in its original form. Gérard introduces the group to a Porto-Novo talking drum player for a demonstration and Q&A session. Afternoon: the Afro-Brazilian musical inheritance of Porto-Novo, where batucada rhythms from Brazil met Fon and Yoruba sacred drum traditions. A living musical archaeology.

Transfer to Abomey. The Dahomean royal court maintained a music tradition distinct from the Vodoun tradition — royal xylophone (balafon), iron gong, aerophones, and the specific drum patterns of the Fon kingship. Morning: Royal Palaces with a musical focus — the musical instruments on display and the musical occasions they served. Afternoon: Drum lesson session 2 with a Fon percussionist working in the court music tradition. Overnight Abomey.

Transfer north to Parakou (4hrs). The northern Beninese musical world is entirely different from the south — the griot tradition of the Bariba and the pastoral music of the Fulani herders. VBR arranges an evening with a Bariba griot family — the oral praise-singers who memorise centuries of dynastic history and perform it musically. One of the most extraordinary musical encounters available to a visitor in West Africa.

Morning: Parakou’s music instrument market — traditional drums, koras, balafons, shakers, iron bells. Opportunity to purchase quality instruments from the makers themselves. Afternoon: begin return south to Cotonou. Evening: drum lesson session 3 — bringing together the three traditions (Vodoun, Fon court, Bariba griot) into an integrated understanding of Beninese percussion.

Final day: morning visit to a Cotonou recording studio meeting a Beninese musician working at the intersection of traditional and contemporary. Afternoon: the group’s final jam session together an informal play session with the rhythms learned across the week. Evening: farewell dinner at a live music venue, the week’s music playing around you as you eat.