Meet Our Mentors
Ubaka Hill
Ubaka Hill is a nationally recognized musician, drummer, poet, master teacher of hand drumming, founder of the Million Women Drummers Gathering 2013, the Drumsong Institute Museum Archives, and music director of the National Drumsong Orchestra and the ShapeShifters.
For more than 30 years, Ubaka has been teaching and performing to bring transformational energy and joy to her audiences.
Mamady Keita
Mamady Keita was a legend in the world of djembe drumming. He started playing djembe when he was a small child, became the lead drummer in his billage, and was then recruited by the president of Guinea to help spread Guinea’s rich culture of music and dance throughout the world. Mamady toured for many years and then began taching all around the world.
He said that the djembe does not see color or gender, it has no borders, and that if everyone played the djembe, the world would be a better place.
After battling illness for a long time, Mamady left this world and went the to world of the ancestors on June 21, 2021.
Colleen Haas
Colleen Haas founded Drumming Our Fill, a percussion studio for women in 1989. Colleen was responding to the cultural norm that percussion was a male pursuit, not suited for women.
In her studio, women could freely explore world music through percussion and drumming.
Advanced students from the studio formed drumHeart, a performance ensemble that continues at the WDC to the present day.