Kumandi Project Calendar CLICK HERE
A resource for the North American Drum & Dance Community, highlighting the workshop and performance activities of most of our 15 AD&D instructor staff.
THE KUMANDI PROJECT
Three charitable organizations supporting the culture of West Africa, and supported by the Kumandi African Drum and Dance Camp wider community.
Youth Villages Summer Drum and Dance Classes
Cradle of Jazz Project www.cradleofjazz.org
The Cradle of Jazz Project has two important lines of work building citizen diplomacy between West Africa and America. CoJP arranges university tours of stellar West African artists to illuminate the influence of West African music, theory, and culture in American music traditions. CoJP also encourages the academic success and advancement of West African students and musicians by coordinating semesters abroad for West African children. These semesters pair West African children with American children for rich immersive exchanges in music, arts, language, math and science. The CoJP board is made of long-time Drum Camp folks: Founder and Executive Director Julie Moore; Elke Bachmann, global health director; Karen Casey, secretary; David Fairall, director of support services; Brian Lane, technical director; and Andrew Moore, vice-president and long-time drumming instructor at AD&D.
There is a lot of responsibility for our West African instructors, being the representatives of their family to live in the United States, when their whole family is in a developing nation. We acknowledge this role of our teaching artists, and humbly offer them a small financial contribution to assist in the celebrations occurring at the end of Ramadan.
Youth Villages Summer Drum and Dance Classes
Youth Villages serves over 18,000 youth and their families every year, in twelve states in the U.S. Since 1996, AD&D Instructor Tom Harris has offered African Drumming to the youth in his Therapeutic Drumming Program in Douglasville, Georgia. His groups there have performed over 500 times, with notable performances in New York City, at the Lincoln Center, and in Washington, D.C., at public venues and most recently at the Kennedy Center. Fundraising at the Kumandi Drum and Dance Camp has fully supported 5 weeks of summer African Dance classes for youth at the YV Douglasville location since 2007. These classes are taught by AD&D Instructor Marietou Cisse with drumming by AD&D Instructor Aly Camara. For more information contact Tom Harris directly at tomharris57@comcast.net
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Organizational Training
& Team Building
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School Programs
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Drum Circles, Lessons
& Classes, Camps &
Workshops
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Performance Ensembles
& Recording Sessions
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Healings, Rituals,
Celebrations,
Personal Exploration
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Drums, Bags & CDs
for Sale, Drum Repair
Services