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Ken Crampton
 A
Professional Drum Circle Facilitator, Teacher, and Consultant can
enhance any event, it allows a third party to empower multiple
individuals through metaphor, fun, and every entities personal
message. Ken Crampton has been Facilitating Rhythmical Workshops
and Events since 1991. Trained by master Facilitator Arthur
Hull, Ken has evolved into an adaptable program designer and
facilitator.
Contact Ken Crampton
to design your Rhythmical Experience today!
Drum
Circle Facilitation, Team building, Community Building, Festivals,
Churches, Djembe, Dounoun, Bougarabou Lessons. Drum Reheading
and Starter to Professional Drums For Sale.
 Arthur
Hull
VILLAGE MUSIC CIRCLES
A talented musician and performer, Arthur Hull is recognized as the father of the modern day community drum circle movement. He is a facilitation trainer, motivational speaker, experiential keynote presenter and an internationally acclaimed master at facilitating groups of people through a common experience using music and rhythm.
Arthur has used the Village Music Circles™ metaphor to build team spirit and promote unity in corporations, schools and communities world-wide. With a mission to make the pleasure and the power of rhythm accessible to everyone Arthur brings his fun and inspirational rhythm experience to communities from corporate executives to kids at risk.
A gifted rhythmatist and charismatic facilitator, Arthur leads diverse groups through a joyful and inspiring experience using music and rhythm. From small groups to groups of thousands, English speaking to Mandarin, youngsters to elders, ‘rhythmically challenged’ to experienced musicians; Arthur’s wit and humor motivates people beyond cultural and personal barriers inspiring full, enthusiastic participation and community building.
An ethnomusicologist and accomplished world-beat percussionist, Arthur brings audiences both insight and knowledge of our world musical heritage and how this history affects modern people of all cultures. Arthur has instructed over 7000 students at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
As founder of Village Music Circles™, he brings experiential team building and leadership events to organizations internationally. Apple Computer, Silicon Graphics, Patagonia, Kinko’s, Motorola, McDonalds, Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal, ExonMobile, World Bank, Sony, and Toyota are among the thousands of corporations who have found the spirit of community through Village Music Circles™ events.
Arthur originated and defined the field of modern day Drum Circle Facilitation. In 1990 he established professional trainings for Community and Drum Circle Facilitators. Trainings are currently offered in the US, Canada, China, Japan, Germany, Norway, UK
Arthur’s playshops and experiential keynote presentations have been a featured part of personal growth conferences including: Omega Institute, Naropa Institute, Esalen Institute, The Association for Humanistic Psychology, Noetic Science, The Prophets Conference, and The Yoga Journal Conference.
 Mamady
Keita
DJEMBEFOLA
Mamady Keita was born in 1950 in Balandugu, a small village in Guinea, West Africa, near the border of Mali. Even before his birth his mother was told that his name would travel beyond Balandugu, beyond Guinea and beyond all of Africa. She did not know what that meant until Mamady was born and before he could even walk he would turn over anything that looked like a bowl and he would start hitting it like a drum. It was from that point on that his parents knew he was destined to be a djembe player and gave him the nickname nankama, born for it, and brought him to study with the Master Drummer of his village, Karinkadjan Kond‚.
In 1957, Mamady was initiated into the secrets of the djembe and to the history of his people, the Mandingue. In 1963, he was taken to perform in the regional ballet, about 150 km from his home and in 1964, he was taken 2000 km away to the capital city Conakry where the President of Guinea, Sekou Tour‚, was working with Harry Belafonte to produce the National Ballet of Guinea, Ballet National Djoliba. He was one of 50 percussionists who auditioned during 9 months of training and in the end was one of the final 5 who made it into the Ballet. At only 14 years of age, Mamady was by far the youngest member of the National Ballet. That same year he starred in the Harry Belafonte film, Africa Dance.
Mamady remained in the National Ballet until 1986, during which time he won gold medals in many International and Pan-African Festivals and was also named Best African Drummer. He went on to become the djembe soloist and lead drummer of Ballet Djoliba and in 1979 was named as Artistic Director. He created many of the musical repertoires used in the Ballets and trained many of the worlds top djembe players.
In 1986, Mamady decided to make his personal mark in the world by breaking out of the Ballet and establishing himself as an independent drummer. He moved to the Ivory Coast where he joined Souleymane Kolis group Koteba and performed next to such renowned African stars as Tour‚ Kunda of Senegal, and Mory Kante of Guinea. During his stay in Ivory Coast, Mamady starred in another movie, titled La Vie Platin‚e, and also wrote and recorded the entire sound track..
When Mamadys name began to travel beyond West Africa, a group of percussionists in Belgium decided to bring him into Europe to teach and perform. That happened in 1988 with a non-profit organization called Zig-Zag. In cooperation, Mamady helped open a school of percussion which they called Repercussions, and later that same year, Mamady established his own performance ensemble, Sewa Kan. The name refers to a Malinke proverb which says Without music there is no joy, but without joy there is no music.
In 1991, Mamady decided it was time to go his own way and he established his own percussion school which he called Tam Tam Mandingue, drums of the Manding. Over the 13 years that bring us up to the present year 2004, Mamady produced 9 cds, 6 instructional video/dvds, a book (Mamady Keita: A Life For the Djembe), several documentary films (including internationally acclaimed Djembefola, by Laurent Chevalier), and extended his percussion school to include 18 branches across the globe (France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Japan, USA, Israel). Each year Mamady travels to these countries for one to three months at a time to teach workshops and perform with Sewa Kan. Mamady also brings students to Guinea every winter to participate in a 3 week drum camp at his house in Conakry. He currently resides in Belgium, but will be relocating to San Diego, California in September of 2004.
 Dr
Barry Bittman & Christine Stevens
Health Rhythms
Barry Bittman, MD is a neurologist, author, international speaker, award-winning producer/director and inventor. As CEO and Medical Director of the Mind-Body Wellness Center, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary outpatient medical facility in Meadville, PA., Dr. Bittman has pioneered a new paradigm for treating the "whole person."
Christine is a board certified music therapist (MT-BC) with over 15 years of experience creating and implementing programs using rhythm and percussion for rehabilitation, health maintenance, and life enhancement.
 Jaqui
MacMillan
DRUM FOR JOY
Jaqui MacMillan found her passion for African drumming in the early 1980’s. She has since studied with many Masters, including Babatunde Olatunji, Mamady Keita, Sam Turner and at the Tam Tam Mandingue School in Washington, DC. Having performed and recorded with some of the top names in the business, she began sharing her joy of drumming with others by teaching classes and facilitating community drum circles. Jaqui has taught privately and given workshops around the country for over fifteen years through her program, “Drum For Joy!”. In 1999 and 2001, she attended the Drum Circle Facilitators Playshop and the Drum Facilitators Mentor Training in Hawaii with Arthur Hull. Jaqui has facilitated drum circles for corporate team building events, conferences, elementary and high schools, hospitals, programs for “at risk” children, juvenile detention centers and programs for homeless and battered women. She is a founding board member of the Drum Circle Facilitators Guild (DCFG), a non-profit organization dedicated to professionalism in the field of drum circle facilitation. The Washington Area Music Association, (WAMA), awarded Jaqui the “World Music Instrumentalist Award” every year from 1995 through 2002 and she was featured in the Women Drummers 2000 issue of DRUM! Magazine. As an endorsee of Mountain Rythym Percussion, Jaqui represented the company as a guest facilitator at the 2004 Summer NAMM in Nashville, TN and at the 2005 Percussive Arts Society International Conference, (PASIC), in Ohio. She is currently working on a book about women drummers and is creating a drum program for children, which includes her own line of drums and percussion instruments.
 Babatunde
Olatunji
DRUMS OF PASSION
"Rhythm is the soul of life. The whole universe revolves in rhythm. Everything and every human action revolves in rhythm." - Olatunji
Babatunde Olatunji is "Master of Drums," a virtuoso of West African percussion. Born and raised in Nigeria, Olatunji was educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta and the New York University Graduate School. At Morehouse, he began performing informally, entertaining fellow students. As the demand for his music increased, he entered the professional music field.
In 1959, Columbia Records released Olatunji's first album, Drums of Passion, which became an unprecedented, worldwide smash hit. It was the first album to bring genuine African music to Western ears, and it went on to sell over five million copies. Olatunji has traveled the world for forty years spreading his music and African culture. Thirty years ago, he founded the Olatunji Center of African Culture in the heart of Harlem and he has been a member of the faculties at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for almost 15 years. At these institutions, as well as at innumerable workshops and festivals, Olatunji continues to pursue his strong commitment to spreading knowledge of African culture through the teaching of traditional drumming, dancing, and chanting in classes for adults and young people.
Olatunji received a Grammy Award in 1991 for his collaboration with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart on their Planet Drum album. In addition, his composition "Jingo Lo Ba" has become a signature song for the rock group Santana. Olatunji also has written scores for Broadway and Hollywood productions, including the music for She's Gotta Have It, a film by Spike Lee.
In 1997, Chesky Records released love drum talk, which went on to be nominated for the 1998 Grammy for Best World Music Album. On it, Olatunji unleashes the rhythm of passion. Olatunji leads an ebullient ensemble of guitarists, singers and, of course, percussionists through a series of spirited meditations on the nature of love. Lust, kinship, sensuality, courtship, and spirituality are the themes Olatunji uses to fuel his joyous, infectious playinG.
 KALANI
DRUM CIRCLE MUSIC
Kalani has presented at several MENC state and regional conferences including Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, California, Virginia and Rhode Island. He has been a featured clinician and speaker at the Taipei Percussion Institute, The International Percussion Festival (Belgium), The World Rhythm Festival (Seattle), several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, the International Music Products Industry (NAMM) conference, the American Orff Schulwerk convention, and the American Music Therapy Association National and Western regional conferences.
Kalani has performed and/or recorded with such music legends as Kenny Loggins, David Sanborn, Max Roach, Barry Manilow, Vic Damone, John Mayall, Chante Moore, Dr. John, Michael Kamen, Melissa Manchester and is the featured percussionist on the Yanni – Live at the Acropolis video and CD. He is featured on recordings for Disney, Warner Brothers, Tri-Star Pictures, Paramount Studios, The Nature Company and Jim Hensen Records.
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