Massal Stories

The Drum That Wouldn't Stop

An illustrated story by Sol Studio · Kids · Cartoon · All ages · English, Turkish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Also in: Türkçe · Deutsch · Español · Português · Français · Bahasa Indonesia

A girl borrows an old drum that makes everyone who hears it dance, and must learn its heartbeat before the street festival.

Ten-year-old Bia wants to drum in her street's festival band, but she has no drum. Old Seu Tonho lends her a dusty one painted with suns and tells her to listen to it before she plays. She doesn't. With one BOOM her friend Caio starts dancing, then the market, a city bus and a whole wedding. Seu Tonho puts the drum to sleep under his woven cloth, but on festival night it will wake again. Bia has four days to learn the hardest part of music: listening.

Characters

  • Bia (Would-be drummer): A ten-year-old girl from the old town who wants more than anything to drum in the festival band.
  • Seu Tonho (Retired drum maker): An old drum maker who closed his workshop years ago but still keeps one very special drum on the top shelf.
  • Caio (Best friend): Bia's eleven-year-old neighbour, who plays the shaker in the kids' band and really hates dancing.
  • Vovó Cida (Bia's grandmother): Bia's grandmother, who sells coconut sweets at the market and organises the street festival every year.

Episode 1: The Drum on the Top Shelf

Bia needs a real drum to join the festival band. She borrows a dusty old one from Seu Tonho, ignores his warning, and the drum starts playing by itself.

Bia watches the kids band rehearse on her street.

Salvador, Brazil. Five days before the street festival.

Bia asks to join and is told she needs a real drum.

Bia: Let me play! I practise every day!

Caio: Sorry, Bia. No real drum, no band.

Bia climbs the hill to the old drum maker's door.

Bia: Seu Tonho made every drum in town. He must have one!

Seu Tonho wakes up in his hammock.

Bia: Seu Tonho! I need a drum. A real one!

Seu Tonho: I stopped making drums years ago, little one.

Bia spots a strange old drum on the top shelf.

Bia: What about that one? It's glowing!

Seu Tonho lends it with a warning Bia barely hears.

Seu Tonho: Listen to it before you play it. Promise me!

Bia: Yes, yes! Thank you! Bye!

Back on her street, Bia hits the drum for the first time.

BOOM!

Bia: Wow! What a sound!

Caio starts dancing and can't stop.

Caio: My feet! They are dancing on their own!

Bia: But Caio, you hate dancing!

Bia stops, but the drum keeps playing by itself.

Boom-ba-boom!

Bia: I stopped! Why is it still playing?

The drum hops away down the hill toward the market.

Bia: Come back here, drum!

And the drum hopped straight toward the market...

Episode 2: Everybody Dance!

The runaway drum makes the whole market, a city bus and a wedding dance. Seu Tonho finally puts it to sleep and tells Bia its secret.

The drum hops through the market and everyone dances.

Boom-ba-boom! Boom-ba-boom!

In one minute, the whole market was dancing.

Vovó Cida dances with her tray of coconut sweets.

Vovó Cida: Bia! What did you bring to my market?

Bia: Sorry, Vovó! It just won't stop!

The drum jumps onto a bus and Bia and Caio jump after it.

Bia: Caio, jump!

Caio: I can't jump! I'm dancing!

The whole bus dances along the coast road.

Caio: Even the bus driver is dancing!

Honk-honk!

At the church square, the drum hops into a wedding.

Bia: Oh no. A wedding.

The wedding guests dance wildly and the cake wobbles.

Bia: Watch the cake!

Caio: This is the worst day of my life.

Seu Tonho arrives, dancing too.

Seu Tonho: I told you! Listen first, then play!

Bia: I know! I'm sorry!

He throws his cloth over the drum and everything goes quiet.

...tum.

And then, silence.

Seu Tonho explains the drum's secret.

Seu Tonho: This drum has its own heart. The cloth only makes it sleep.

Seu Tonho: On festival night, it will wake up again.

Bia promises to learn the drum's heartbeat.

Bia: Then I'll learn its heartbeat. Before the festival!

Four days left.

Episode 3: The Heartbeat

Bia practises listening instead of playing. On festival night the drum wakes up, and she plays its slow heartbeat until the whole street dances together.

Seu Tonho teaches Bia to listen.

Seu Tonho: Close your eyes. What do you hear?

Bia: A dog, a motorbike, and my stomach.

Bia gets impatient and plays too fast.

Grrrum!

Caio: Not again! My feet!

Late at night, Bia rests her ear on the drum and hears it.

tum... tum-tum... tum... tum-tum

Bia: It's slow. Like a sleepy heart.

Festival night on Sun Hill Street.

Festival night. The whole neighbourhood was there.

The cloth blows away and the drum wakes up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Vovó Cida: Bia! It's awake!

Bia closes her eyes in the middle of the chaos.

Caio: Bia! Do something!

Bia: Don't play yet. Listen first.

Bia plays the slow heartbeat back to the drum.

tum... tum-tum...

The wild dancing turns into one beautiful dance.

Seu Tonho: You listened. Now it listens to you.

Bia leads the kids band down the street.

Bia: Follow the heartbeat, everyone!

Caio: Okay... maybe dancing isn't so bad.

Seu Tonho lets Bia keep the drum.

Seu Tonho: Keep it, Bia. It chose you.

Every festival after that began with Bia's drum.

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