#46 Weedie Braimah- Djembeföla & Percussionist for Fourchestra, Christian Scott, The Nth Power & More!
Our guest this week is Weedie Braimah, master Djembe player (commonly known as a Djembefola)
Two of the bands we mentioned that Weedie has performed with are the Nth Power and Fourchestra.
We did a review of PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Conference). And more information on PAS (the Percussive Arts Society) is here. You can probably find all sorts of videos and pictures on the internet by checking out the Percussive Arts Society and their social media (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, & Facebook)
The vibraphone that Damon loved so much at PASIC was the Love vibe (also the Omega vibe) from the Malletech company.
The Brazilian drummer with the new book coming out is Christiano Galvao. The new book is called Brazilian Grooves Play Along featuring the QR codes to use with your smart phone to take you to videos and audio examples on Youtube and Soundcloud.
Also happening the week of PASIC in Indianapolis was the BOA (Bands of America) Grand National Championships. If you are interested in more info on that, you can click here.
Upcoming Festivals are Sunday, November 19th for the Spirit of America Day of Percussion, from 9am-5pm at Somerset Berkley Regional High School, in Somerset, MA, which is completely FREE.
The other festival mentioned is the Ground Up Festival in Miami, FL from Feb 9-11th which will feature Weedie's group, Weedie Braimah & the Hands of Time as one of the acts.
New lessons from World Drum Lessons (dot com). Use our discount code below and get your first two months free.
Music news this week.....
Part two of LP's name that tune (more cowbell edition) challenge. The Grammy Music Education Coalition continues to expand music education in public schools. Why are ticket prices different from city to city? Click here to find out why. What is a headphone amp and should you use one? Audrey Luna sings the highest note in the 137 year history of the Metropolitan Opera. Find out more about that and actually see and hear her sing it here. This video is the opera singer Marcos was referring to from the Fifth Element with Bruce Willis.
Aside from Miles Davis being a house guest when Weedie was growing up in East St. Louis, He also mentions that his grandfather was one of the first teachers of his relative Idris Muhammed.
Here are the names and descriptions of the most popular Ghanaian Drums that Weedie talks about. The band Bontuku can be heard here. Hugh Masekala was mentioned as well.
Sylvester "Sunshine" Lee started this cultural center that is similar to where Weedie studied. He also mentions Mamady Keïta, Djembeföla.
Weedie mentions Amadou Kouyate as another Djembeföla on the scene today and you can see them both play here.
Weedie mentions working with the great Pedrito Martinez. Here's a video of them playing together at Jazzfest in New Orleans in 2017.
This is the new version of the Afropop Worldwide radio show. This is an example of Yoruba Bata players (and dancers) in Nigeria. Shoutout to Thomas Dyani, percussionist in London introduced the Nigerian style of playing bata to Damon.
Here is an interview with percussionist Ayanda Clarke (son of percussionist Neil Clarke, mentioned in the Bob Weiner podcast, epidsode #44). The Nigerian drum ensemble is made up of several drums and you can find out more about them here. And this is what the Omele Ako (the high pitched drum that Weedie and Damon were trying to remember the name of) sounds like on its own.
Weedie gives a shoutout to percussionist Magatte Sow, percussionist with Angelique Kidjo. Here is a list of great Djembefolas to check out. Planet drum was featuring Mickey Hart (drummer for the Greatful Dead) and other master percussionists. Taga Sidibe is the master djembe player with the small drum that Weedie talks about.
You can keep up with Weedie on Facebook Twitter or Instagram. He has the educational site called World Beat 101.
