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Member Bios
Osubi has studied with master drummers Abi Odun McCray, Chief Bey, Nana Dinizulu, Malik Sau, and Mor Thiam, and has performed at such venues as the African Street Festival (New York, NY), Dance Africa (New York, NY), the Montreux Jazz Festival (Montreux, Switzerland) and the North Sea Jazz Festival (Den Haag, Holland). He has performed with Jerry Gonzales and the Fort Apache Band, and has been a contracted musician for Urban Bush Women and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Craig currently serves simultaneously as Artistic and Musical Director of Dromatala (Tallahassee, FL), Associate Director of Prophecy Dance Theater (New York, NY), as well as a lead drummer for Kulu Mele African American Dance Ensemble (Philadelphia, PA). The Pennsylvania Council of the Arts recognized Craig by recently adding him to the PCA Artist Directory.
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to top
Eric Bond is the founder
of the Tallahassee Drummers Alliance, and is also a founding member
of the performing Djimbe battery Dromatala. He was also a performing
percussionist with Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theater and was instrumental
in establishing the drumming component of several community-based drumming
and dance programs in Tallahassee. Bond began earnest study of Hand
and Stick Drumming of the African Diaspora in the early 1980's, and
has studied under Charles Miller, YaYa Diallo, Papa Ladji Camarra, Mamady
Keita and TAM TAM Madinque, and percussionists from both MUNTU Dance
Theater of Chicago, and the Katherine Dunham School in St. Louis, MO.
Bond has studied drum carving, crafting and repair from Yusef Crowder
in Atlanta and Baba Musa Mosley in Chicago. Since 1999, Bond has worked
with Ballethnic Dance Company, performing and creating music for a newly
choreographed work. He currently operates his companies Lafalo Yahti
and Tallahassee Drum from Atlanta, GA.
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Olusegun Williams
is a modern day griot who is accomplished on a variety of instruments
including: conga and djimbe drums, mbira (thumb piano), shekere, flute,
and keyboards. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is a graduate of Morehouse
College and presently resides in Tallahassee, Florida. He has been involved
with the performing arts at all levels from performance to technical
assistance to scenic and audio designs. His goal is to share with his
audience the richness of the culture of the African Diaspora through
music, poetry, folktales, and movement.
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Khari Clemmons
began drumming under the tutelage of Lynn Garling and Myrna Munchus-Bullock
with the Nommo Performing Arts Company at the Pennsylvania State University.
Khari credits Eric Bond, Osubi Craig, Obayanna Olumide Gilbert, Stone
Montegomery, Inara Ramin, and Kwame Ross for molding his understanding
of his role as a traditional African percussionist in society and enhancing
his knowledge base musically and spiritually. He has been a member of
the Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theatre, Tallahassee Drummers Alliance,
Dromatala percussion and drum battery, and the African Caribbean Dance
Theatre where he held the position of musical director for two years.
Khari has also studied under Zach Diop, Soulemann Diop, the Guinea Ballet
Percussion Ensemble and many others. Khari currently serves as voice
director for Dromatala.
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Yaasiel
Davis is fully devoted to the preservation
of the African culture from an African American view. He has played
with Alyo Children's Dance Theatre, and has studied under many Master
drummers including Ali M'baye and YaYa Camara. Yaasiel also served as
Squad leader for S.P.I.R.I.T.S SOA, a drum, dance, and masquerade society
dedicated to the research and understanding of African and West Indian
spiritual tradition. He traveled with S.P.I.R.I.T.S. to Senegal and
Gambia, West Africa, and most recently to Cuba for Festival de Caribe.
The tour included research and lectures in Havana as well as Santiago
de Cuba. Yaasiel presently serves as Drum Captain for Dromatala.
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Asegun Henry
currently serves as the assistant drum captain of Dromatala. He has
played Djimbe for the Fourth Avenue Cultural Enrichment (FACE) program,
Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theater, and the African Caribbean Dance
Theater (ACDT). He has participated in and performed at countless classes,
festivals and workshops including the Black College Dance Exchange,
the Kuumba Dance Festival, the Florida African Dance Festival, and the
Montgomery Music Festival. Asegun has done research on the great pyramids
of Egypt, and has written a paper pending publication based on this
research. He presented his research at a university symposium in Puerto
Rico, and he has also been accepted to present his research at a civil
engineering conference in South Africa.
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Olumide Gilbert
is a pioneer of African Percussion and culture in America. He has been
involved in West African Percussion since the late 1960's under the
tutelage of the Father of African Percussion in America, Master Drummer
Chief Bey. His talent was recognized by the Rockefeller Fellowship International
exchange program, which sent him to the Peoples Republic of the Congo
to study Congolese percussion. Olumide plays shekere, kitiro, sabar,
kring, balafon, congas, bata, Djundjun, and djimbe. He has performed
and taught at numerous venues, including Alvin Ailey American Dance
Company, the Dance Theater of Harlem, BBC Radio, Sesame Street, and
the International festival of Cuba. Olumide is currently the musical
director of African Caribbean Dance Theatre. He offers invaluable experience,
artistic prowess, and knowledge to the members of Dromatala as we move
to continue the cause of the expansion of African Diasporic music throughout
the world.
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Kwame Ross
is an educator, choreographer, and musician. He is presently a teacher
and musician for Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Lincoln Center Institute,
Urban Bush Women, and is the founder and Artistic Director of Prophecy
Dance. His work in collaboration with Lincoln Center Institute Company,
a company dedicated to the evolution of African Diasporal Dance forms,
National Dance Company of Mozambique and Urban Bush Women reinforces
his commitment to continue to learn and share the richness and diversity
of African creative expression. Kwame has done extensive dance and anthropological
work in Nigeria, Haiti, Trinidad, and in Europe. He has toured nationally
and internationally as a performer and educator.
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Akinjobi Davis
has studied with many master dancers and drummers in Sene-Gambian Arts
including Papa Camera, Alyo Tolbert, Lansana Kou'Yate, Ramon Sillas,
Ali M'Bye, Yaya Camera, Abdul Dumbia and Karamba Kou'Yate. His artistic
skills with the Djimbe orchestra have taken him throughout the world
to not only study, but also perform. He has also performed and studied
with Muntu, Kulu of New Orleans, Sundance, S.P.I.R.I.T.S., Minianka,
and Sylymbo of Senegal. He is now a drum captain of S.P.I.R.I.T.S. and
the musical director for Alyo Children's Dance Company. He has played
with Dromatala for 3 years.
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Korey Brown
is making his life's work the examination and edification of the cultural
traditions and social consciousness of people of African descent in
the Americas. A native of Altamonte Springs, Florida, has researched
and written extensively on the cultural history of African peoples in
the United States and the Caribbean. Much of Brown's work has been influenced
and enhanced by his interest in and involvement with traditional West
African hand and stick percussion. For the greater part of the last
decade, Mr. Brown has served as a musician for a number of performing
arts companies including Dromatala, Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theatre,
African Caribbean Dance Theatre in Tallahassee, Florida and The Village
Dance Company in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Brown is seeking to extend
the reach of his understanding of African percussion through gaining
an in-depth working knowledge of Afro-Cuban rhythms, songs, and folktales.
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Tunde Mendes,
who is born of Nigerian and African-American descent, has used his cultural
background in his music. He has been influenced by artists such as Fela
Kuti and Sunny Ade as well as Talib Kweli and Dead Prez. Tunde has been
with Dromatala for 6 years where he plays the Djunjun, Songbha, and
Kinkini bass drums. He has also performed with Orchesis Dance Theatre
and the African Caribbean Dance Theatre while attending Florida A&M
University, where he received his Masters of Business Administration.
Currently, Tunde resides in New York, where he is expanding his knowledge
in Capoeria, an Afro Brazilian martial art, which includes song and
dance.
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