To understand Lamine Toure and Groupe Saloum, the Afro-beat band featured at this weekend’s Culture Fest at the Bear Brew in Orono, you have to understand one thing. At the center of it all is one instrument: the drum.

The Boston-based eight-piece weaves elements of jazz, funk and reggae into what it plays, but the foundation of the sound is in the rhythms created by Toure, a master percussionist, who plays the sabar, the traditional drum of the Wolof people of the West African nation of Senegal.

Of Wolof descent, Toure comes from a family of griots, the hereditary caste of West African storytellers and musicians.

“In West Africa there was a caste system, so not anyone could just start playing drums,” said Patricia Tang, the band’s keyboardist and manager. “You’d have to be born into a family that does drumming, and Lamine comes from a family that’s done it for centuries and centuries. It’s in your blood.”

Though their role has changed with the times, the griots still preserve history and provide valuable entertainment for Africans in Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea and Mali. Toure has played the sabar since the age of four, performing with his family drum troupe until moving to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, in 1986, to play with various bands.

The sabar is a unique drum, which is played with one hand and one stick.

“It gets a wide variation of sounds, with the hands and with the stick, which I feel makes it stand out from other drumming traditions,” said Tang.

Tang, now a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, met Toure in Dakar while she was doing field research for her dissertation in ethnomusicology at Harvard University.

“He was one of my teachers while I was living in Senegal in 1997 and ’98,” said Tang. “He was one of the percussionists in Nder, an mbalax band that was extremely popular there, though they weren’t really known here [in the U.S.]. He was interested in pursuing a solo career, so in 2001 he came to the U.S., and he’s been based in Boston since.”

Mbalax, the genre of music most easily identified with what Groupe Saloum plays, was traditionally focused on the hypnotic, infectious rhythms of the sabar, accompanied by traditional harps and lutes. In the 1970s, elements of ska, Cuban and other Afro-Caribbean styles started to become absorbed into the sound, after modern Western instruments such as electric guitar were picked up by African musicians. Perhaps the best known practitioner of Mbalax is Senegalese pop star Youssou N’Dour, who records and performs to this day.

Groupe Saloum incorporates even more genres into its music: bassist Akili Jamar Haynes used to play with the Mingus Big Band in New York, and backup singer Igina Ijah Maxwell formerly sang with reggae groups. Tang is a trained pianist and violinist, and her academic background allows for a broad understanding of multiple styles and traditions.

In addition to his work with Groupe Saloum, Toure teaches drum and dance classes at M.I.T., and co-directs the drum ensemble with Tang. At many shows, Toure offers additional workshops in drumming, though he will not be giving one at the Orono performance.

“What’s really nice about this band is that although [Toure] is the lead singer and main percussionist, it’s not his singing that is the focus, as it tends to be with many bands,” said Tang. “It’s the drumming. That’s the root of our music.”

Lamine Toure and Groupe Saloum will play at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono on Saturday, July 22, as part of Culture Fest, a fundraiser to benefit the Orono Public Library. Festivities start at 5 p.m., with a buffet featuring African and Caribbean food. Music starts at 6 p.m. The Napper Tandies and a jazz quartet will also perform. Tickets, which include food, music and entry into a raffle, are $25, and can be purchased at the Bear Brew. For information, call 866-BREW. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net. Lamine Toure (fourth from left) and Groupe Saloum will perform on Saturday, July 22, at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono.