Rating: 
Summary: Interesting angle on an overdone subject
Review: Throughout history, music and rhythm have been used in religious ritual, to bring human beings into the ecstasy of the divine presence, by whatever name that has been called at any given time. And, specifically, rhythm was prevalent in the ancient Goddess religions of the Mediterranean. I never realized, until I read _When the Drummers Were Women_, how many of the Goddess traditions included sacred drumming. But it's right there--Cybele's devotees ate and drank from drums and cymbals, Inanna was given drum music as an offering, and votive figures of drumming women have been found in many places. It's like what I've heard happens when a woman gets pregnant--all of a sudden, she sees pregnant women everywhere. Not because there are more pregnant women than there were before, but because her focus has changed. Layne Redmond gives us a new focus--percussion--and suddenly we're able to see the pattern of rhythmic ecstasy that ran through many of these rituals, which many of us hadn't noticed before. And she also suggests drumming as a way to the divine today, and emphasizes that drums were not always seen as "masculine" instruments as they are seen today. Are they seen as masculine? Ask me, ask any woman who played percussion as a young girl. A lot of weird looks still follow a female drummer. But that's changing, thanks to prominent female drummers like Redmond.Why not five stars? I think it's a personal issue of mine. I've read a lot of "history of the Goddess" books in my life, and at this point I'm heartily sick of reading about the matriarchy and its suppression by the patriarchy. This isn't Redmond's fault, it's mine. But this book contains the exact same story arc I've seen many times before, the very same oversimplified history. (The best three-dimensional account I've seen of this theme is Baring and Cashford's _The Myth of the Goddess. Other writers' tellings of this story come off as too sweepingly general after the Baring/Cashford book.) It's up to you whether the drumming angle justifies buying another book about the matriarchy/patriarchy story. For me, it was justified, because I am interested in Demeter, Persephone, and Dionysos, and got some new information about their rites from Redmond's book. It's the big question to ask yourself before buying this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Great Goddess from a Drummer's Point of View
Review: WHEN THE DRUMMERS WERE WOMEN is a great bargain! In less than 200 pages, charmingly illustrated with black & white photographs and drawings, Layne Redmond accomplishes three tasks. Her original goal was to write a history of women's ritual drumming in selected ancient cultures. In reaching this goal, she has created a wonderfully accessible overview of the role of the Great Goddess in India, Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Redmond also surveys the Paleolithic and Neolithic roots of the Goddess, as well as the transformation of the Goddess into the Virgin Mary. Not least of all, she anchors her story in the contemporary world, weaving together her personal and professional quests, the response of other women to her work, and relevant scientific research. Inevitably, in such an ambitious yet brief work, there are occasional flaws such as overgeneralizations or historical anachronisms; but these do not outweigh the merits of the book. Both her drummer's point of view and the breadth of her research offer new insights to readers familiar with the history of the Great Goddess. At the same time, her brevity and style make her work an excellent introduction for readers new to the subject. The subtitle of the book is "A Spiritual History of Rhythm", and the purpose seems to be both to document the role of sacred drumming by women priestesses in ancient times and to argue the value of drumming in contemporary spiritual practice. In pursuit of these two purposes, Redmond illuminates the role of women in ancient religions, the development of various mythic symbols, the evolution and suppression of the Goddess, and the physiological & psychological bases of spirituality. What may have started as a little book about rhythm became a major quest--as fascinating to the reader as it was meaningful to the author.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Goddess from a Drummer's Point of View
Review: WHEN THE DRUMMERS WERE WOMEN is a great bargain! In less than 200 pages, charmingly illustrated with black & white photographs and drawings, Layne Redmond accomplishes three tasks. Her original goal was to write a history of women's ritual drumming in selected ancient cultures. In reaching this goal, she has created a wonderfully accessible overview of the role of the Great Goddess in India, Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Redmond also surveys the Paleolithic and Neolithic roots of the Goddess, as well as the transformation of the Goddess into the Virgin Mary. Not least of all, she anchors her story in the contemporary world, weaving together her personal and professional quests, the response of other women to her work, and relevant scientific research. Inevitably, in such an ambitious yet brief work, there are occasional flaws such as overgeneralizations or historical anachronisms; but these do not outweigh the merits of the book. Both her drummer's point of view and the breadth of her research offer new insights to readers familiar with the history of the Great Goddess. At the same time, her brevity and style make her work an excellent introduction for readers new to the subject. The subtitle of the book is "A Spiritual History of Rhythm", and the purpose seems to be both to document the role of sacred drumming by women priestesses in ancient times and to argue the value of drumming in contemporary spiritual practice. In pursuit of these two purposes, Redmond illuminates the role of women in ancient religions, the development of various mythic symbols, the evolution and suppression of the Goddess, and the physiological & psychological bases of spirituality. What may have started as a little book about rhythm became a major quest--as fascinating to the reader as it was meaningful to the author.
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