Linda Tillery is a veteran drummer, vocalist, , producer and cultural historian whose career has spanned 34 years. Since the 1960's, Tillery has been regarded as one of the San Francisco Bay Area's most versatile singers.

In the 90's Linda took command of an even broader repertoire, tapping into the diverse resources of African American roots music. She shares with us the historic beginnings of Black music through Work Songs, Spirituals, Play Songs, Field Hollers, Moans and Ring Shouts.

Lora Chiorah-Dye joined us in 2007.  She was raised Zimbabwe and came to the United States in the 1970's. She created the Sukutai Marimba and Dance Ensemble, one of the region's oldest African music ensembles, to celebrate the heritage of Zimbabwe's Shona people and to provide an opportunity for teaching music and dance to Americans.

 

Lora is an internationally respected dancer, singer, and Mbira player.  She is a professional storyteller and conveys the values of the Shona culture with stories, songs, games, dances and crafts projects.

 

Nurudafina Pili Abena (Nuru) joined us in 2007.  Oral Traditionalist/Teacher/Musician, Nurudafina Pili Abena has been drumming for 30 years.  She studied drumming as a child with Master Babatunde Olatunji as well as with many masters of traditional folklore from African and Eastern origins.  She has performed and studied in West Africa (Senegal), Kenya (East Africa), and in Cuba as well as nationally throughout the United States of America.

Nurudafina founded the "universal Vibrations School of Oral Traditions" in 1976.  She is considered one of the original women elders and is respected internationally as a woman drummer and teacher.

Nuru is a "Woman on a Mission", using drumming to unite people from diverse backgrounds and to dispel the ignorance surrounding African music and diaspora Cultural folklore.

Mabiba Baegne is an internationally acclaimed teacher, drummer and choreographer of traditional and contemporary African Dance. Mabiba was born in Congo Brazzaville and initiated into dancing by her grandparents at the age of eight.

Mabiba is an inspiring drummer. In addition to her Congolese dancing, Mabiba has studied West African dunun drumming with master drummer Famoudou Konate in Guinea and she was the first woman to teach this form in the United States. Mabiba is also an acclaimed singer and has toured and recorded with Salif Keita, master drummer Mamady Keita, and Samba Ngo

Jackeline Rago is a Venezuelan-born, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and educator who specializes in Venezuelan Folk-Music as well as music from other countries and the Caribbean.

Currently, she is a faculty member at the Jazz School in Berkeley, CA, where she teaches several courses on Afro-Venezuelan percussion, Afro-Venezuelan rhythms applied to Jazz and Venezuelan Cuatro (four-stringed guitar). She is also the artistic and musical director of "The Venezuelan Music Project" and "The Snake Trio", bands which she performs and travels with in an ongoing basis. In her workshops, she often showcases a wide variety of musical styles and traditional instruments from her native Venezuela, such as the "Quitiplas" (bamboo ensemble), Venezuelan "Maracas" and "Cumaco" (long "avocado-tree" drum).

Jackeline Rago has performed nationally and internationally for over 20 years.

For more information, see Jackie's website.

Carolyn Brandy is a composer, performer, and teacher, and has worked in the Bay Area for many years with many groups such as RhythMix, Jazz Camp West, The Jazzschool, Oakland Jazz Choir, Oakland Youth choir, Redwood Cultural Work, Berkeley and Oakland Public Schools, Skin Talk, the Faye Carol Band, and The San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music Program. She was a founding member and has four recordings with the jazz quintet, Alive! And also released a self-produced CD of her own compositions entitled Skin Talk. Carolyn is currently writing, arranging and performing music with her new band, OJALÁ

Carolyn has been a drummer and student of Cuban folkloric music for many years. She has been a practitioner of the Yoruba-based Cuban religion, Regla de Ocha, also known as Santeria, since 1977. She was initiated as a priest of the religion in Havana, Cuba by Amelia Pedroso in 2000.

Carolyn has led five tours to the Island of Cuba to study Folkloric music and dance. She has organized workshops in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Camaguey, Santiago De Cuba, and Guantanamo, where the groups studied with masters of Afro-Cuban drumming and dance.

Carolyn is the Artistic Director of  Women Drummers International and Co-Producer of  Born to Drum Women's Drum Camp.  She is the Creator/Director of Sistah Boom!

For more information, see Carolyn's website.

photo by Jackie Thomason

 

NYDIA ‘LIBERTY’ MATA -- Rooted in the rhythms of her native Cuba. Nydia “Liberty” Mata is a dynamic percussionist and electrifying performer. Composer, arranger, and co-founder of the Latin Caribbean duo Harpbeat, Nydia is best known for her recording credits with Laura Nyro, Isis, and Latin Fever. She has performed with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Patti Labelle, Art Blakey, And Pete Seeger as well as playing for former President Bill Clinton at the Labor Research Association’s 24th Annual Labor Awards Dinner in NYC.

She has appeared at Concert Halls and Universities throughout Canada, South America, and the USA including; Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Nassau Coliseum, The Beacon Theater, The Bottom Line, and the Palace of Fine Arts at the San Francisco World Drum Festival.

In recent years multi-talented percussionist extraordinaire, Nydia “Liberty” Mata has added the magic of the Steel Pan to expand her rich tapestry of sound and to date continues to share her passion for teaching “from the inside out” with her private students and the women who answer to “the calling of the drum” at the Born to Drum Women’s Drum Camp in Northern California.

Adwoa Antoinette Kudoto

was born and raised in Cape Coast, Ghana. She has been drumming since childhood and at the age of thirteen and for the next five years she studied and performed with Nana Kwamena Kum, master drummer and artist in residence at St. Monica’s Girls’ School in Ghana. During that period Adwoa’s talent was evident and she was nurtured and tutored by Ghana’s best drummers. In 2000 Adwoa was selected by the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ACRAG) as Ghana’s Outstanding Female Master Drummer, stating she was “the only versatile female master drummer with obvious dexterity; skilled in traditional Ghanaian drumming including djembe percussion.” In fact, the state of Ghana official website lists Antoinette Kudoto as Ghana’s first and only female master drummer.

Over the past twenty years Adwoa has performed extensively as a drummer and instructor at the Center for Intercultural and Talent Development, Cape Coast. She is also the founder and director of the Nyame Tsease African Traditionals where she directs a drum and dance djembe ensemble and provides workshops for visiting American and other foreign University students.

Adwoa has been a visiting artist and educator in Denmark and in the United States. In 2004 she taught courses at the University of Michigan in drumming, dancing, singing and understanding of traditional African rhythms. In 2006 she taught a similar course at Long Beach State University and in 2007 she taught an intermediate course in Ghanaian drumming and performed in Sebastopol, CA.

Adowa’s resume reflects her accomplishments and expertise, but to really know her is to play drums with her. Don’t miss any workshop she offers!

Susu Pampanin -- has explored and studied all types of percussion instruments and styles of music, and her incredible talent is especially evident in her work in Middle Eastern drumming. Susu is well known for her virtuosity in Arabic drumming and is one of the few female Middle Eastern drummers highly respected by the Arabic professional music community.

She has worked and recorded with fusion ensembles, including Wild Mango, Keith Terry and Crosspulse, Stellamara, Jazayer, BlueNile, Vince Delgado Quintet, Susu and the Cairo Cats, and most recently, Holly Near. She also has a solo drum CD, Hands of Time.

Michaelle Goerlitz -- Since her arrival in 1980 to San Francisco, Michaelle has been enjoying, absorbing and contributing to the Bay Area's musical richness. She has played, recorded and toured with a variety of artists including Soul Sauce, the Snake Trio, Lichi Fuentes, rhiannon, Patrick Palomo, John Worley, Jami Sieber, Erika Luckett, Voz do Brasil, Novo Tempo and Dimitri Vandellos. She was also a founding member of Wild Mango.

For the workshops, she will focus on Rio-style batucada and possibly Northeastern styles such as baiao, maracatu and coco. Please bring surdos, repiniques, tamborims, agogo bells and pandeiros!!

photo by John Spragens Jr.

 

Elizabeth Sayre has performed, published articles about, and organized events around Afro-Latin, Brazilian, and African music since 1990. She is a freelance musician, teacher, researcher, writer, and translator/interpreter, as well as Visiting Instructor at Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA) in the Department of Music and Dance.

In Afro-Cuban music, she has studied with John Amira, Orlando Fiol, Amelia Pedroso, Lázaro Pedroso Michael Spiro, and Michel Aldama in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Havana, Cuba.

Since 2000 she has accompanied Afro-Cuban dance classes in New York City (batá, congas). Elizabeth is percussion captain for Obini Ashe and founder/musical director of Okan Iloro, two all women's Afro-Cuban folkloric groups based in New York. In the mid-1990s she was invited to join Samba Nosso, the project which eventually became Philadelphia’s dance band sensation, Alô Brasil.

See Elizabeth's Website for more information about her work.

Sue Kaye (Suki) has been playing conga drums,Ngomas and other percussion for 30 years. Originally from New York, Suki has studied with many master drummers from the Congo, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Trinidad , and more. She has played with a variety of groups including Montuno Groove, Omeyocan,Zakiya Hooker, Samba Ngo, and Bole Bantu. The styles she plays are a mix of African, Caribbean,Latin, Jazz, both folkloric and popular styles. Suki has also been a dance accompanist and educator , and she is happiest when playing drums!!

Janet Koike's passion for taiko, has inspired original compositions, combining rhythm and movement into an exciting performance style. As a vital part of San Jose Taiko her work has been a highlight of the group's national concert tours from Arsenio Hall to Carnegie Hall. Blending traditional San Francisco Taiko Dojo training with custom built techno taiko, Janet performed with D'CuCKOO at the Cleveland Bicentennial and Macy's Passport with Cirque du Soleil. Janet has performed in Hong Kong at the "New Dimensions Festival" with Mark Izu, and Brenda Wong Aoki, toured Indonesia with Keith Terry's Body Tjak and performed with Jennifer Berezan, Kenny Endo, Ondekoza's Marco Lienhard, Anthony Brown with the Asian Jazz Orchestra and Theatre Yugen.

Janet has recently returned from mounting a new work for Odaiko New England and showcasing at the APAP conference in New York.

See the Rhythmix web site for more information about Janet and her current projects.

Virginia Lopez was born in Cuba. She has studied Afro-Cuban drumming with Master drummer and recording artist, Amelia Pedroso,as well as other teachers in both Cuba and the United States. She has taught at drum camps in California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Afia Walking Tree --

Afia Walking Tree’s philosophy is that we are all on a journey to re-emerge as whole beings and be in sync with our universes.  She uses African Diasporic drumming, singing, dancing, and the honoring of one’s lineages as vehicle to help her clients and participants cultivate new tools and pathways to realize their destinies. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Afia Walking Tree is a masterful percussionist, visionary facilitator, and outstanding performer, singer-songwriter and recording artist who builds’ bridges across multi-ethnic intergenerational communities. Afia has been a collaborative artist with many luminaries of our time.

In 2007 and 2008, Afia toured with the internationally acclaimed Les Amazones Women Master Drummers of Guinea as one of their lead soloists.  This past January, Afia chaperoned thirty three people on her second Drum and Dance Cultural Immersion Tour to Guinea. There she received initiations for playing Djembe and Dunun for numerous ceremonies, dances, and social celebrations. Afia offers intensive study and consultation for individuals, semi-privates (2-4), and small to large groups at all levels. She also brings her work to schools, non-profits, colleges, universities, and corporations internationally. 

 

Debbie Guerrero-- (Tlingit/Snohomish/Cowlitz) is a Research Assistant and Outreach Coordinator for the Native Wellness Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle.

She is considered a Community Resource and conducts sweat lodge ceremonies for women who need healing and support as they endure life on life's terms. She is a member of the Native American Church, and attends on a regular basis.

Debbie is also a Sundancer. She is widely acknowledged for her beautiful singing of traditional songs while playing the Native American drum or rattle. She is the mother of three grown children and an active Leader in the Native Community in Seattle. Her passion is working with Indigenous Healers and empowering women.

photo by Jackie Thomason

Las Bomberas De La Bahia--Las Bomberas de la Bahia was founded in April 2007 and is the Bay Area’s first & only all-women's Bomba ensemble. The group is composed of Bay Area activists, educators, and artists who actively contribute to growing the tradition of Bomba and work to maintain & support Puerto Rico’s oldest African influenced music and dance tradition, which formed in Puerto Rico's sugar cane plantations by slaves as a form of resistance. Las Bomberas de la Bahia have performed throughout the Bay Area for educational institutions, cultural centers, and cultural festivals. 

Denise Solis is an activist, labor organizer, and musician who has lived in the Bay Area since 2002. Denise began studying the Afro Puerto Rican musical tradition of Bomba in 2004.

Sarazeta Ragazzi is a Boricua bred in San Francisco's Mission District. She is an artist, teacher and performer with over 15 years experience working in the cultural arts.

Ojalá -- is a group of 6 talented women who combine a mixture of traditional Afro-Cuban folkloric music, contemporary and infectious funky rhythms, beautiful vocals and imaginative original songs. OJALÁ uses traditional rhythms and songs to express their own unique creative talents.

  Learn more at the Ojalá website.

Carolyn Brandy, a groundbreaking Bay Area female percussionist, is the musical director of the band, and the inspiring and moving vocals are led by Regina Wells and Elouise Burrell. Joining them are Ava Square-LeVias, Annette Acosta, and Sue Matthews.

photo by Jackie Thomason

Odilia Galván Rodríguez --

Odilia is an internationally recognized poet, writer, journalist, editor teacher and activist who has traveled extensively. She has three books of poetry and her work has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Her most recent book, Migratory Birds: New and Noted Poems is about her many journeys the physical as well as the spiritual.

Odilia has practiced Native American Spiritual traditions of her ancestors all her life and the Sun Dance traditions of the Lakota Peoples, who adopted her back in the 1980’s. She was initiated into the Lucumí African Traditional Religion of Cuba, the tradition of her husband and son, in the mid 1990’s as an Orisha priestess of Yemaya, which she practices extensively.

As an avid cultural worker since her early teens, Odilia has always worked for social justice and says that she does not plan to stop until she takes her last breath. She trains young artists to become activists and believes that a social consciousness must also include a spiritual formation.

Lali Mejía was born in Ciudad Ojeda and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Lali specializes in the Afro-Venezuelan Folklore as well as other Latin American styles of music. She is a permanent band member of the Venezuelan Music Project (Venezuelan Folk Music) and has shared the stage as a guest percussionist with Venezuelan musicians such as the VNote Ensemble, Marco Granados, Aquiles Baez, Claudia Calderón, Leo Blanco, Gonzalo Teppa, Grupo Eleggua and Rennea Coutennye. In addition, she has studied under master percussionists Alexander Livinalli (Venezuela), Edgardo Cambón (Uruguay), Carolyn Brandy (USA) and Jesus Diaz (Cuba).

Among some of her most memorable concerts are the California World Music Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Moab Music Festival, Venezuelan Sounds at the Smithsonian, Brava Theatre and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

 Sue Lundquist has had a passion for music since she can remember. As a child she studied piano and guitar and longed to play the drums.

Forty years ago girls were not encouraged to play. True to her desire to learn she finally found her path on the drum twenty years ago. Carolyn Brandy has been her inspiration and primary teacher of Afro-Cuban music on congas and bata drums. Recently, she has been studying and performing West African music with Ryan Camara.

Sue has been sharing her knowledge and joy for drumming with adults and children in private classes and in the public schools. She currently performs with Blue Lightning(a dance band) and with Asesu Hand in Hand Drummers.

Christine Sato

Ava Square-LeVias--Ava’s joy of ecstatic union with spirit can be seen in her dance performance, her writing, and love for family, friends & community. Considered a “proverbial” artist Ava’s talents include choreographer/dancer, actor, drummer/musician, poet & videographer. Ava has studied many forms of dance and considers West African her forte.

Ava has performed solo and toured with D’Cuckoo, Dimensions Dance Theater, Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, Harambee Dance Ensemble, David Rousseve’s “Reality”, and Canadian award-winning dub-poet, Lillian Allen. She’s studied with Dr. Albirda Rose, Nontsizi Cayou, Deborah Vaughan, grammy winner Dr. Zak and Naomi Diouf, Marie Bass, Reggie Savage, and internationally acclaimed, Alonzo King, to name a few.

Ava has founded her own dance company, Spirit Theatre of Dance as well as Spirit Theatre Dance Studio offering performances, drum and dance classes, workshops, and other classes for the community. Her studio received the Express newspaper’s “Best in the Bay” two years running.

Ava has been a consultant for many public school districts teaching dance and music theory, theater, and stagecraft. She has also produced videos, and wrote curriculum. Ava currently performs and/or teaches with Ojalá, Purple Moon Dance Project, Dreamfish for sustainability, as well as her freelance solo performance.

Ava has a self-published book of poetry, A Square Opening. Ava lives in San Rafael with her wife, Elisa.

Ava can be reached at: SpiritTheatreofDance@hotmail.com.

Adwoa Tacheampong is a vocalist, drummer, dancer & actor who has been performing since the age of 12. She has been playing Afro-Cuban Batá & studying Afro-Cuban Orisha Dance for six years. She currently performs with several companies in the Philadelphia area including PhillyBloco (Brazilian), Voices of Africa (African & Folk), Tambonito (Afro-Cuban & Afro-Brazilian), Leana Song (Afro-Cuban & Ghanaian) and Sonic Liberation Front (Avant-garde jazz & Afro-Cuban), as well as being on call for other musical and acting opportunities.

Adwoa plays several instruments including Batá, surdo, sekere, sakara, agogo, & caixa. She is an avid photographer & writer. She continually seeks to expand her creative opportunities including studying conga drumming & continuously strengthening her voice.

Edwina Lee Tyler

Edwina Lee Tyler is master of the West African Djimbe drum. She is acclaimed as one of the earliest pioneers of the women’s drumming movement. During the 1970's Edwina heard the call of the drum and went to Africa to study. Edwina was the founder and director of "A Piece of the World" an African American women’s drum and dance ensemble. She has also toured extensively as a soloist.

Edwina is known internationally. She has performed on Broadway, television, radio, and video. Her drumming spirit is an inspiration to all. Her credits include Urban Bush Women, Lady Gourd Sangoma, Merian Soto, Ancestral Messengers, Prowess Dance Arts Collective, and more.

Akiba Onada-Sikwoia --
has been participating in ceremony, conducting workshops and maintaining a healing practice for the past twenty-five years. Akiba's Spiritual practices, coupled with knowledge that we are so much more than our physical bodies, have afforded her the gift to believe in the miraculous.

Jeannette Anglin is Tribal Secretary of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria,an elected position of the Tribe. She is learning the Coast Miwok language, basketry of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo and is part of a group revitalizing the cultural aspects of the Tribal history.

She has been instrumental in overseeing tribal scholarships and starting a Youth Council.

Jeannette is a retired secondary public school teacher and administrator. In retirement she also serves on the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation, the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation Board of Directors, and the Chop’s Teen Center Board of Directors in Santa Rosa

Thoz Womenz -- Above all else, we lift credit to our Creator for giving us purpose and the strength to chase our dreams. All-women drums are not new. Women have served in many roles throughout history, with Native women accepting responsibility in every area of life in our world. Our purpose at the drum has always been to mentor youth along a cultural road, to keep our language and songs, and to follow the heartbeat of the drum. Along this journey we pursue our health, identity, language and knowledge through the heartbeat of the drum.

Our style is women’s - not Northern nor Southern. It is our hope that our songs are accepted with the respect in which we share them. Language is the foundation of culture. Our original songs have daily messages seeking to preserve the Cherokee language. Language preservation towards cultural resilience is a goal we share with many other women’s drums. Like those drums, we seek to serve our communities.

o - gi - na - li - i o - tsa - tla - nv - dlv – i
(My friend. We are all sisters and brothers.)

 

Visit Thoz Womenz' website for more information about them and their music.

Barbara Borden joined us in 2006 and 2007.  A drummer, percussionist, keeper of the beat, she began drumming at age ten. Her musical expression is diverse: composer and recording artist (latest album Beauty in the Beat); performing artist (solo "percussion play" She Dares to Drum); member of the band Alive! (eight years, three albums); and educator (community drum circles, workshops, clinics, retreats, and private students). With the Heart Drum---a very special community gathering drum---Borden does her part to help keep the heartbeat of life alive and well.

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Simone LaDrumma joined us at the 2007 camp.  She has been composing and performing on hand drums since 1987. She has studied many different styles of drumming including Afro-Cuban, West African and Middle Eastern, and drumset. Simone was founder and Director of Ladies Don’t Drum, an all-female percussion ensemble. In 1991 Simone created "Drumming & The Holistic Expression of Rhythm," a simple and joyous method of learning to play hand drums.

Over the years, Simone has brought the magic of rhythmic expression to thousands of people of all ages, genders and skill levels across the U.S., Canada and Europe, both as a teacher and as a performer. Simone’s entertaining and effective teaching style is perfect for the “raw beginner” with no musical background, as well as those with more experience. For more information, see her web site

Shawn Nealy has been walking with the drum for the past 6 years & actively apprenticing & performing throughout the Bay Area (2 years) with Afia Walking Tree, learning traditional rhythms from West Africa, as well as learning how to utilize the drums for healing & liberation.

As a progressive, social justice educator, she continually introduces her high school students to the power of the drum and its history of empowerment for African people as a nourishing tool to cultivate change.

Leilani Birely, Hawaiian Priestess and ceremonialist, brings ancient Hawaiian healing and Goddess wisdom to the community. She is the active mother of two girls. Graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax VA with a degree in Business, and a graduate of the Masters in Womyn’s Spirituality from New College in San Francisco. On Summer solstice of 1996 she founded Daughters of the Goddess Womyn’s Temple. In August of 1998, she was Ordained as a Dianic High Priestess by Z Budapest at the Goddess 2000 womyn's Festival in La Honda, CA. For more information please see our website at DaughtersoftheGoddess.

Amanda Vincent Villepastour is a London-based musician and scholar who has done significant comparative research about the bàtá in Nigeria and Cuba. Since the mid 1990s, Amanda has been moving between West Africa and Cuba working with Yorùbá master bàtá drummers, most notably Chief Rábíù Àyándòkun and in Cuba, masters including the late Regino Jiménez and Cha Chá Estéban Vega.

Amanda teaches at Goldsmiths College in London where she leads a specialized music teacher training. She is currently on sabbatical and doing a research fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

Amanda’s first book, Ancient Text Messages of the Yorùbá Bàtá Drum, is about drum language and will be published by Ashgate in 2009. With Michael Marcuzzi, she is also co-editing a collection of articles titled Wood That Talks: Trans-Atlantic Perspectives on the Orisha of Drumming.

Eli PaintedCrow was our guest of honor at Born to Drum 2007. 

Eli PaintedCrow 22yr Native American (Yaqui) retired Army veteran. Mother of two veterans and grandmother of 8 grandchildren. Currently lives in merced California and devotes her time to bring awareness and clarity of militarism and its effects on human life.

Eli's speech at the Veterans for Peace 2006 National Conference is available here on YouTube.