I’ve come to appreciate a well-played djembe drum in the past few years, and when I saw the gorgeous drums from Sylvan Temple I immediately thought of a few people who would love to play something so beautiful!

Handmade on Vancouver Island by Robin Shackleton, these one of a kind instruments are built with great care. Robin makes just 70 or so drums a year, and believes that “ideally, no drum is made until it is called forth”. I love that!

Sylvan Temple’s mission statement:

To uphold the ancient art of the craftsman drum-maker, and so strengthen intimacy, accountability and quality in the marketplace; To inspire choices that will allow Earth to heal us and so initiate the circle that will sweep us into balance.

Sylvan Temple is very focused on creating drums that leave a small environmental footprint – using wood that has been salvaged from various waste and burn sites on Vancouver Island, as well as sourcing skins and hardware that are “as local and considerate as possible“. Obviously, much care is taken with each drum and I’m quite sure that anyone lucky enough to play a Sylvan Temple drum would feel that.

You can find out more about Robin and Sylvan Temple at www.sylvantemple.ca or on Facebook. Robin seems a little reluctant to embrace the wonders of Facebook, so maybe we can get him some new fans :)

Here’s hoping you find your own drumbeat and march to it every day,
~Sarah

P.S. If you’d like to hear some djembe playing, as well as a really lovely story, check out a little film called “The Visitor“.