I highly recommend spending a few minutes reading some of the posts at the Djembefola West African drumming forum.

There are hundreds of useful tips and interesting stories about everything related to West African drumming. I have learned things that have really helped me understand and appreciate the depth and richness of African drum and dance.

For example, one of the members gave this advise to a question of how to keep good timing while drumming for an African dance class, “I tell people to watch the dancers feet…the good dancers with good timing.”

Here’s the group Foli Laka, started by Mamady Keita. The four djembefolettes are:

Ariane Werres – Belgium
Muriel Finet Kouyate – France
Laure Finet – France
Monette Marino-Keita – USA

I lived in San Diego/Encinitas area 1994-1999.

During that time I took classes from Lamin “dibo” Camara because he had San Diego connections and would come there regularly. That’s where I met Moussa Traore and bought a few of his dugara djembes and took some classes and one private lesson with him.

Every summer I went up to the Tambacounda West African Dance and Drum camp in Northern California. That’s where I met heaps of drummers and took classes from Abdoulaye Diakite, Caramba Diabate and Abdoul Doumbia, Moshe, and met Simbo and so many other people who had turned their life over to music, dance, and drum.

Mamady was hosted the first time in San Diego by Monet who was (and is) an amazingly skilled drummer. I took private lessons with Monet because she knew all the Mamady solo phrasing patterns and was working towards her Tam Tam Mandingue certificate. She would travel with Mamady and Fred Simpson on his tour to Santa Cruz and New Mexico and all the other places he taught.

What a shock, around five years later, after I moved to Maui, Del (a gifted drummer from the Bay Area) comes back from Cali and tells me Monet married Mamady!

Anyways, I’m stoked, Mohamed Bangoura is coming here to teach 3 weekend camps in May/June. I’m saving my money so I can follow him around New Zealand. He is so funny He was telling us he is one of the modern djembefolas. And when he goes to Matam , a section of Conakry, he and his friends tear it up and they play a certain style, their style. This was his response to a question about the other, more popular uh… older(?) djembefolas. Mohamed had a twinkle in his eye while sharing this info