This TED Talk features drummer and percussionist Kasiva Mutua,

recorded live at TED Global 2017.

Listen, do you hear that?

My grandmother asked me.

Listen, listen to what the beetle is saying.

I would spend hours and hours listening to the little Listen to what the beetle is saying.

I would spend hours and hours listening to the little beetle rolling a huge bowl of dung.

And while at it, I heard a variety of environmental sounds.

With the keenest of ears, I would hear family chatter, laughter, the wind howling, and even crickets chirping.

All these sounds criss-crossed into each other, and I would hear rhythm in between.

Then, I would beat my plate with a spoon and my chest with my tiny hands,

trying to recreate what I was hearing.

I have been beating the same plates, shakers, drums, pans,

and so much more ever since,

to becoming a professional drummer and percussionist.

As I grew up subconsciously, I felt a strong urge to hide my newfound hobby.

Even without it being said out loud, I knew that somehow it was wrong to do what I was doing. In most of the ceremonies, I noticed that most of the women and girls were not in sight,

but when they were, I noticed that they would wear their dancing skirts

and shake their waists off, singing, clapping,ululating, while the men filled up the rhythm section.

A few years later, I came to understand what tradition and culture meant and what was considered taboo or otherwise.

In majority of the African cultures,

women have been forbidden to play drums and percussion

...