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Drummers
Michael Glusman
Percussionist, dancer, vocalist, teacher, facilitator
Michael turned his attention to African and Latin drumming and dance
early in 1980 after many years as a vocalist and guitarist. His training
in ethnic dance began with Marian Oliker (the first African influenced
dance instructor in Santa Cruz) and includes extensive work and study with
Titos Sompa of the Congo, Wilfred Mark of Trinidad, and Allasane Kane
of Senegal among a myriad of other teachers who gravitate to this rich
cultural center for music and dance.
Michael began to memorize the varied rhythms of African percussion
while dancing, long before he ever began to play drums. His approach to
music has always been rooted in a fluid, kinesthetic perspective. Already
an accomplished musician, he quickly found his niche in the percussion
realm and now is considered by his peers as a solo and ensemble
artist of explosive, yet refined, distinction.
For over a decade and a half, Michael has accompanied dance classes in
Santa Cruz, facilitated beginning and intermediate drum circles, and participated
in dance and drum classes and workshops in the Monterey Bay Area. He also
works extensively in the field of personal growth with men's groups as a
workshop facilitator. Most recently Michael has expanded his studies into
Brazilian rhythms with Papiba Godhino, leader of the Brazilian band, Sambada.
By day, Michael is an artist and craftsman in the field of fine furniture making
and cabinet making with clients throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas.
Gary Kehoe
Percussionist, drum set player, studio
recording artist, teacher, facilitator
Gary Kehoe has been playing music professionally for close to 30 years.
He is a multi-instrumentalist, although he is most noted for his diverse and
inspired percussive abilities. As a gifted drum set player, he brings a complex
and multidimensional approach to hand drumming. From a simple mainline
groove to high speed, complicated poly-rhythms, he is in a class by himself on
congas, timbales, drum set, or just about any other percussion instrument.
He is an innovative and dynamic musician and student of various genres
including Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, and Caribbean styles.
Gary currently lives in the musically diverse Monterey Bay Area, but he
is also in great demand throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He tours
extensively and can be seen performing throughout the United States and
abroad in such exotic places as Hawaii, Trinidad, Brazil, as well as in Europe.
He has been accompanying dance classes, both African inspired and
modern genres, for over 15 years and has probably logged several thousands
of hours of accenting the movement and choreography for dancers at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, and at almost every dance studio in Santa Cruz.
Gary's performance credits include many working with the famous Nigerian
master drummer Babatunde Olatunji; RCA recording artists Opa Fire; Bay
Area favorites Special Fun, Santa Cruz Steel, The Banana Slug String Band,
Chi Mizu to name only a few. Now he provides the rhythmic backbone to the Brazilian
sounds of Sambada as well as working as an inspired facilitator.
Percussionist, dancer, choreographer, studio
recording artist, teacher, facilitator
Chris Kenney is a crossover entertainer and facilitator from the energetic
world of ethnic music and dance. Known for his years of performing in Brazilian
and African inspired drumming and dance ensembles, he is also an avid
follower of Cuban, African, Caribbean, and Hip-Hop dance styles. He began
dancing at age 9 and was an exhibition dancer by 12, performing stylish Samba
and Latin dances. In the early 1980's, he expanded into African inspired dance
leading him to study with choreographers and teachers from Africa, Brazil, the
Caribbean, Indonesia as well as the States. His passion has always been Latin
, Brazilian, and Haitian music and dance, but he has been known to perform
an Irish Jig, Viennese Waltz, or body percussion in theater groups or other venues
in the Bay Area. Formerly an instructor at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz, Chris
specializes in teaching Samba and Salsa to individuals and groups as well as at
our workshops at Harbin Hot Springs, Santa Cruz, and Hawaii.
Chris, known to some as Christo Diablito, is an elder in the community ethnic
drumming scene and facilitates drumming classes and plays a myriad of
percussion instruments for local dance classes. A student as well as a
teacher, Chris still studies with many exceptional percussionists in the
Bay Area as well as with master drummers who come from this continent
and abroad. Currently, he is a special guest musician, choreographer, and
dancer with the Brazilian ensemble, Batucada Nana, and is an accompanist
for the Mount Madonna Choir. He also appears as a studio musician on tapes and CDs.
By day, Chris works for museums, art dealers, and private clients as a fine
art conservator restoring 19th and 20th century oil paintings and
gilded frames from antiquity for
Afia Walking Tree, M.Ed.
Spirit Drumz Founder & Executive Director, percussionist,
vocalist, composer, facilitator, studio and performance artist.
Afia Walking Tree is equally gifted as a percussionist, singer, composer,
facilitator, and stage personality. With her stylish musicianship and
dynamic personality, she can capture the attention of any audience,
enchant them, and lift their spirits and consciousness at the same
time. Her audiences are directed through a journey that affirms their
souls with ample opportunities for active participation and ultimate rejoicing!
Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Walking Tree is a self-taught,
intuitive musician. She has studied with master percussionists of West
African and Afro-Cuban styles including Debra McGee, Phyllis Bethel,
Edwina Lee Tyler, Linda Thomas Jones, Abdulai Diakete, and Fred
Simpson. Walking Tree is currently based in the central California, but
she is a “bi-coastal” artist, equally at home on the West and East coast.
Some of her performance and recording credits include Mother Spirit
Ensemble, Ase Drumming Circle, Drum For Joy, Skin on Skin, and
Adaawe Women's Percussive Ensemble.
Her first CD recording, “Soul Affirmationz”, is an eclectic arrangement
of drum-songs - a fusion of West African, Afro-Cuban, and Caribbean
traditions with hip-hop, R&B soul and spoken word affirmations. With
revolutionary lyrics, her drum-songs deal with healing, passion, responsibility,
self-affirmation and self-forgiveness. These are rich and sensual, tinged
with the lilting patois of Jamaica.
Through her company, Spirit Drumz, Afia Walking Tree integrates her
talents as a percussionist, motivational speaker, leadership develop-
ment educator, facilitator, program coordinator, herstorian, and
activist. She uses the “drumz” as transformative tools that allow
participants to "awaken their voices within." Walking Tree is available
on a project basis as a consultant both nationally and internationally. Also
visit www.spiritdrumz.com for more information about her company, its
associates, and her client list.