Now Groove calabash cover: the backpack I designed

This article is about the calabash, the percussion instrument at the heart of my Now Groove rhythm method. No handpan here: this is the cover I designed to carry a calabash.

I have played the calabash as a percussion instrument since 2012. I take it everywhere: lessons, workshops, the stage, set on its mat in front of my handpans. The Now Groove cover is the object I designed so it can travel with me.

Where the Now Groove calabash comes from

On the calabash, I was missing the snare and the hi-hat. I solved it with plastic eggs: a hack that became a way of playing, then a way of teaching.

It became Now Groove in 2021: a rhythm method built on call-and-response and visual emoticons. The playing kit has three parts: the calabash, its mat, and its egg shakers.

The playing kit: the calabash upside down on its mat, and the two eggs that play snare and hi-hat. Note the Now Groove logo engraved on the calabash.

A rare calabash, a cover made for it

The Now Groove kit calabashes are rare: a calabash 46 cm in diameter or more, with a thick 1.5 to 2 cm rim, is very hard to find, especially in Europe. They come from West Africa (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali). Each one is reworked by hand by Kamou, at Djoliba Percussion in Toulouse, who refines the rim so it fits its mat.

The cover carries that whole set in one bag: the calabash, the mat, the eggs. I conceived and designed it entirely, with the support of my partners at Djoliba in Toulouse, especially Yu-Tin.

What the cover does

The cover is a backpack I conceived and designed myself. It brings together:

• Built-in mat function: the playing mat is part of the cover.
• Detachable straps: carry it on your back, or take the straps off.
• Storage pocket, closed with a hook-and-loop strip, for the eggs, accessories and the paper method.
• Velvet lining on the mat side.

From the front: the round shape follows the calabash. The embroidered “Now Groove by David Lesage” badge sits on top.

The cover in detail

Inside: soft cognac-coloured velvet, edged with a trim. This is the “mat” side, the one the calabash rests on.

Rare and unique: handmade, in a small run

Each cover is made by hand, in a small run: only a few exist. It sells for €99 on the HelloAsso shop of Résonances Productions, the association behind my lessons and workshops.

All the photos, delivery and pick-up in Paris at the showroom are on the cover’s page. The calabash and its method are in my shop, under “My creations”.

See the cover and order · The calabash kit and the Now Groove method · My calabash rhythm lessons