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Who?!?
My main instruments are the djembe and dounun, but I play a wide assortment of other drums including bugaraboo, congas, frame drum, bongos, and doumbek. I have studied in Africa and America with a number of expert djembe and doundun players, among them: Mamady Keita, Famoudou Konate, Madou Dembele, Michael Markus, M'Bemba Bangoura Yaya Kabo, Gbanworo Keita, Laurent Camara, Abdoul Doumbia, Minto Camara, Arthur Hull, Yaya Diallo, and Jahamen Mobley. I graduated from Illinois State University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications-- major in public relations, minor in philosophy. I went on to work as a computer consultant for corporations including Transamerica and Gateway while pursuing an acting career. How?!? So how did I end up playing djembe and teaching West African percussion? Good question. The short answer: Divine serendipity. For the long answer, read my article "Light." What?!? What I have done and do now as a percussionist includes a whole range of things. I have performed and/or recorded with artists and organizations from West Africa, North America, and Europe, including members of Les Ballets Africains, Ballets Djoliba, Les Merveilles d'Afrique and Les Ballets Africains de Silimbo. I am a founding member of the West African drum ensemble Dahui, performing djembe and dounun rhythms. I also create and perform in original performance art pieces with the Holy Goat Ensemble and other artists, combining drums, spoken word, and theater. I have recorded three cds of original West African djembe-based music. A Touch of Chaos in the Rhythmic Soup has been in stores since 1996; Silence has been out since late 2001; and my new CD Silence in the Rhythmic Soup (rhythmic environments for yoga and meditation) is due for release Spring 2003. I teach djembe and dounun both privately and in classes at locations throughout the city of Chicago. Check the schedule for a class near you. As a teacher, I combine a broad range of experience in theater, music, communications, and philosophy with knowledge and respect for the traditions of West Africa and the cognitive effects of rhythm. I encourage my students to explore both the traditional rhythms and their individual expression on the drum. In addition to my adult classes, I have taught drumming successfully to children, high school students, and the behaviorally and mentally delayed youth through the Chicago Park District, Gallery 37, and the Evanston YMCA. It has been fascinating to watch young students begin to understand what it is to "understand" on a deeper level as they learn to drum. The potential for drumming to improve education overall is clearly very high. I look forward to incorporating more djembe/dounun classes in the schools in years to come. Why?!? You know what they say about drummers and computer geeks. Drummers have more fun. But seriously, my mission as a drummer is to serve two things: the self and the community. As I take advantage of all that the drum has to offer in my journey as an individual, I seek to help others do the same. I believe that drumming provides a conduit to the primal self that can free individuals from constraints on their bodies, minds, and spirits. My goal here is to facilitate freedom on and through the drum— freedom to express the whole self. At the same time, the drum is really a community instrument. For all the separate reasons that drummers drum, when we play together and everyone is in sync, time, space, and individual differences disappear. In today's world, I see a deficit of community because people are so focused on their differences that they don't know they can feel anything other than separate and divided. But I believe drumming wakes people up to the reality of our all being connected. I seek to exploit this aspect of the drum as a "magic carpet" that can show us the way to a better, more harmonious existence. |
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My name is Michael J. Taylor, although
I am more commonly known simply as 'Taylor'. I have been teaching, performing, and recording West African percussion for several years. I am the owner of Holy Goat Percussion, where I
import and sell West African drums, teach, do repair work, and generally facilitate all things drummy. |
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Holy Goat Percussion | Taylor | Classes | Drums
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