Two evenings each week, a group of drummers gather on a concrete, semi-circle bench on College Avenue to regale the downtown streets with authentic beats straight from Africa.

Dan Trevino, the group's pseudo-ringleader with 12 years of drumming experience, said he thinks the drumming on College Avenue has been going on for about six or seven years. Trevino said the drummers aren't affiliated with any group but are just a collection of whoever wants to show up.

"Half the people just came and started learning beats with us," he said.

Jeff D'Angelo, Class of 2001, reiterated that the they're not so much a group, as a spot and a time.

D'Angelo said "West African" is the best way to categorize the type of beats they play. But that seems to be more of an umbrella term, as D'Angelo added that each West African village has its own unique rhythm.

On top of that, he said, each rhythm has a specific meaning. D'Angelo cited descriptions of rhythms from a theory book as examples, including the new moon, a harvest and even the music of seduction.

He also ran through the names of the different drums used in a rhythm. The djembe, a wooden, hourglass-shaped drum with a goatskin top, is probably most familiar to college students, but these African rhythms also use the sangban, the kenkeni and the dununba.

"For most African traditional cultures, drumming is part of everyday life," said Trevino, who has actually attended drumming school twice in the Republic of Guinea.

Trevino said he usually leads the group in the drumming.

"I've been doing it the longest and know the rhythms," he said.

And since the rhythms have different parts to them, Trevino said he can either teach people various sections, or they can learn them from a book.

"We all know how the parts fit together," he added.

D'Angelo said he has never taken a formal lesson, but he does come from a musical background. He added that just sitting next to Trevino and watching him play was all it took for him to learn.

"If you're not from a musical background, it can be difficult," he said.

Trevino said pedestrians do not typically respond to the drumming and simply "just walk on by." But he said sometimes bikers will ride by or parents will bring their children to listen and sometimes even break into dance.

Caitlin Malone (senior-sociology) said that although she doesn't stop to watch the drumming while walking by, she likes the fact that it is there.

"I like hearing it when I'm downtown," she said. "It makes the walk more pleasant."

But D'Angelo cited another reason to drum, besides impressing passers-by.

"It's interesting having a cultural tradition from another country," he said, adding that drumming plants a seed in this culture that wouldn't normally be there.

In fair weather, the drummers meet from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Friday outside Old Main, near the Allen Street Gates.