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For some 30 years now, drummers from Africa, Cuba, Trinidad and Eastern Europe have congregated in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park. They sometimes attract hundreds of people to listen and dance to the joyful noise. But the event is not popular with everyone because the neighborhood is changing. Luxury apartment buildings and renovated brownstones are popping up all over. Many of the newcomers paid a lot of money to live in Harlem and they didn't think they were paying for all that drumming.
NPR's Margot Adler has more.
MARGOT ADLER: Even the name of the park where the drummers gather shows the split in this community. Originally called Mount Morris Park, a name still used by eager realtors, the name of the park was changed to Marcus Garvey Park in 1973, in honor of the black nationalist leader who promoted economic independence and black pride.
Every Saturday in the summer, starting in the afternoon, drummers with Jim bass(ph) and shakorays(ph), musicians with trumpets and flutes, begin to congregate near benches at the northern entrance to the Harlem park at the 124th Street and 5th Avenue. At 2 or 3 p.m., it still fairly quiet.
Agnes Johnson(ph), a former dancer and community activist, has been coming to watch for years. Every week is different, she says. Last week, African women, hair braiders in traditional dress suddenly appeared.
Ms. AGNES JOHNSON (Former Dancer, Community Activist): And they all started to dance. Do you know how glorious that is for our children to see that? They don't have to wait for Black History Month. They can come any Saturday during these hours and see and touch and then be part of it. Everyone started to smile. Everyone starts to relate to each other.
ADLER: Most of the drummers are men, but not all. And women with babies on breasts and old women with canes sit on the benches listening. Agatha Cole(ph), who was wearing a beautiful white headdress, said she originally came here by chance. One day, four and a half years ago, she happened by on day she was feeling sick. She listened to the drummers, felt better and start to dance.
Ms. AGATHA COLE: I'm the type of person that I just don't get up and dance but the spirit just hit me and I just thought of dancing. To me, it's like people go to church on Sunday. But Saturdays, I have to be here.
ADLER: But the place where the drummers make music is only footsteps from a new 23-unit luxury condo across the street. And right nearby is a row of brownstones. Many who live in these buildings are not African-American and many homeowners feel differently. The drum circle is across the street from Sid Miller's(ph) brownstone, which he is in a process of renovating.
Mr. SID MILLER (Resident, Manhattan): I wish they weren't there. It starts at 11 in the morning and goes until 10 at night every Saturday. It's annoying. It's very annoying. I don't like it. None of the homeowners like it.
ADLER: The current dispute over the drumming began this past June. Complaints came from the new condo. Police were called in. For a few weeks, the drummers agreed to move to an area inside the park, further away from the buildings. But community activists like Agnes Johnson(ph) say that elderly women, some of them blind, a few in wheel chairs, couldn't make their way to the new place. So the drummers returned to the spot they had used for at least a decade.
Many of the drummers are elderly. Baba Kunley(ph) is considered a spiritual elder in the drumming circle. He is in his 70s, came from Trinidad in 1969. He now teaches drumming and dancing. He points to two trees in the park. One was planted in memory of a drummer who died. Another tree comes from South Africa. This is an ancestor circle, he says.
Mr. BABA KUNLEY (Drummer): This park is an Indian burial ground, so the drums belong here. People - like people move in to the area and they just want to change everything, and we're not having that. This is our church. So if they don't like (unintelligible), then they got to go back in the suburbs.
ADLER: But Sid Miller, who stands inside his brownstone with cleaning materials in hand says this battle may be about culture, it may be about history, but in this country, that's not what dominates.
Mr. MILLER: Gentrification is taking place. You can't stop it. The people that have been here a long time have to understand that it's changing. We live in the United States of America under a capitalistic system. And if you have the money and you want to do something with the money, you're allowed to do it. That's the bottom line.
ADLER: The head of the board of the condo across the street from the drum circle was unwilling to speak to NPR for the record. And several owners who were entering the building were also unwilling to talk. However, the board did release a statement saying the drummers had moved several times because of noise complaints over the last 30 years, that they appreciated the cultural element of the drumming and welcome a compromise. Meetings on both sides have taken place. While a few of the drummers look toward compromise, most of them see their current spot as sacred ground.
Benjamin Thompson(ph) comes to the circle to play trumpet.
Mr. BENJAMIN THOMPSON (Trumpet Player): I rather go some place else but majority rules. And most of the people here - most of the people here wants to stay here. We've been here for 30 years and we want to stay here. I really want to continue playing and playing drums to our god and to our ancestors and in peace.
ADLER: But at the moment, instead of peace, a cold war between the homeowners and drummer is still raging.
Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.
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