JM: Definitely, yeah, I do think so. Well, yeah it has to. What I try to do is listen to the words and interpret some of the imagery that’s being evoked by the words. So it definitely influences what I’m doing on the drum. Of course, dynamically it’s a big part of it as far as being able to get softer when the poetry is happening and then in between the spaces—wherever there are spaces— being able to fill that in and just reflecting whatever imagery the poet evokes. So it’s certainly a big influence. AM: Do you think there’s a similarity there? How poetry uses words to try to express more than what’s on the page, whereas music doesn’t necessarily use words but can be trying to express the same thing? JM: Yeah, they’re both really expressing ideas, but I think the difference is with the words the ideas are really specific, or can be more specific, because the poetry is evoking images through is words that can really define where the audience imagination is going, with a drum or with a musical instrument, music is definitely calling to be evoking certain imagery, but it’ s a lot more open to interpretation. So, it’s a different medium, but they’re both doing the same thing as far as expressing what the artist is feeling. AM: I know that you had a hand in designing the doumbek that bears your name, and I know you also play kitchen instruments and things from your performance, which is very cool. I saw you pick up the bowl and I was like “I hope he put water in it” and then you did—Yay! Have you designed other instruments? JM: It’s a great sound making device, it’s a lot of trial and error. I always discover new sounds I can get out of found objects. The drum I designed for Toca Percussion is a drum made from fiberglass with a plastic head and it’s really based on a traditional doumbek, which has been used since ancient times. I have designed a bunch of other instruments, primarily clay drums; the doumbek is originally made from clay so my first attempt at instrument building was building my own drums, because, at the time, there were not a lot of doumbeks to be found at the music stores. So, I learned how to work with clay and became somewhat of an amateur potter—although I did build drums and sell them, so in a way I was a professional. I don’t consider myself as accomplished as some potters who have been doing it fulltime, but I did attain enough skill to produce some pretty good drums; I came up with different heads—I used fish skins for the heads and I did experiment with various shapes. It gave me a lot of experience. What was good about it was that experimenting with the shapes and type of clay used, the shape of where the head attaches—the bearing edges—and then I would also experiment with the skin, so I’d use goat skin, fish skin, calf skin, various thick-
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