Dance To The Rhythm Of Life / World Beat
Artists
Dennis Banks -- American Indian -- Tambourine, hand drum and chants.
Gary Duncan -- American Indian/Scottish -- Electric guitar.
Greg Errico -- Italian American -- Drums.
Kim Dae Hwan -- Korean -- Puku (large drum) with six stick types.
Tony Menjivar -- Latin American -- Congas and percussive instruments.
Shonosuke Okura -- Japanese -- Noh Theatre tradition; Otsuzumi (large drum) and chants.
Narada Michael Walden -- African American/American Indian/European -- Drums.
A bit about the musicians...
Dennis Banks -- Distinguished American Indian and co-founder of the AIM (American Indian Movement), Dennis is active as a teacher, spiritual leader, lecturer, activist and author. He is a member of the Anishinabe tribe of Minnesota, and is well known for organizing the Great Jim Thorpe Longest Run--a run from New York City to Los Angeles to commemorate the gold medal winning athlete. He anually organizes global Sacred Runs, leading runners over 58,000 miles in various countries to carry the message of the sacredness of life. Dennis has acted in several movie roles, completed a musical video, and performed on various artists' CDs. He has published two autobiographies -- Sacred Soul, winning the 1988 Non-fiction Book of the Year Award in Japan, and the recent, The Longest Walk, released in 1997.
Gary Duncan -- Original member of legendary rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service, Gary is a fixture in San Francisco's portfolio of Rock and Roll Groups of the 1960's and 1970's. Quicksilver, along with Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Sly & the Family Stone helped to establish San Francisco's unique music scene in dance halls and ballrooms. Record crowds were drawn to see their performances at the Fillmore Auditorium, the Fillmore West, Winterland and the Avalon Ballroom. Gary is a prolific song writer, with a talent for saying it differently, and has written and recorded music actively over the past thirty years. He was born in Henryetta, Oklahoma of Cherokee-Pawnee-Scottish descent and currently resides in the Bay Area.
Greg Errico -- founding member of Sly & the Family Stone. Greg has toured, recorded and performed with Weather Report, David Bowie, Santana, The Jerry Garcia Band and a myriad of R & B and Blues bands. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Greg was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 for his work with Sly & the Family Stone, and has produced, written, and played with a wide array of musicians and musical genres, such as the Funkadelics and Lee Oskar. Greg has earned numerous Platinum and Gold Albums over his musical career, and is unique among drummers for his wonderful ability to perform a wide variety of musical styles. Greg performed at the original Woodstock concert, and has been featured on the Ed Sullivan Show, in many television documentaries and magazine interviews.
Kim Dae Hwan -- Began in Korea as a drummer at age 13, and was performing professionally by the age of 17. Kim has performed with a myriad of reknown Korean singers, and was selected as the first Korean Musicians Association Chairman. Kim holds a Guiness World Record in 1990 for engraving 283 characters of the Buddhist Prjna-Paramita-Sutra on a grain of rice. Kim was led into sculpting three dimensional art after intensively studying character carving. After these achievements, Kim became one of Korea's premier recording percussionists, creating his own percussion style. He plays the Puku drum, the gong, and several other percussive instruments, and has toured throughout Japan since 1985.
Tony Menjavar -- Fantastic Latin Conga player, best known for his recording and touring work with the group Malo. Currently, Tony is recording with Quicksilver, Malo and a new creation, One Positive Nation. Tony now resides in San Francisco.
Shonosuke Okura -- Oldest son of the late Chojuro Okura, Shonosuke is the sixteenth generation descendent in a long line of traditional Noh performers in Japan. His special training began at an early age and followed traditional patterns of apprenticeship. He began drumming with the Kotsuzumi (small drum) under his father's tutelage, later changing to the 500 year old Otsuzumi (large drum). Shonosuke has performed for the Pope and Dalai Lama; for the 1,200th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto in 1994 and Austria's Millennial Celebration in 1996, with Kitaro at the Nagoya Dome and for Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at birthday celebrations. Okura is a superb musician who has taken this opportunity to experience recording with drummers outside his usual musical form of expression.
Narada Michael Walden -- A formidable producer, composer and drummer, Narada has received notable recognition and multiple chart topping hits with an incredible assortment of artists including: Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Tevin Campbell, Stacy Lattisaw, Angela Bofill, Sister Sledge, George Michael, Jefferson Starship, Elton John, Lisa Fischer, Howard Hewett, Regina Belle, Mica Paris, Shanice Wilson and Al Jarreau. At the early age of 21, Narada began his music career as a drummer, performing and recording with John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. His next project was to drum on Jeff Beck's renowned LP "Wired," steered by the ex-Beatles producer George Martin, followed by drumming with the celebrated ensemble Weather Report. As a solo artist, Narada wrote, produced and performed on five albums for Atlantic Records. Narada currently owns/operates Tarpan Studio in San Rafael.
Although the aim of the project was to primarily record drums and percussion -- non-melodic instruments -- we did invite other musicians to experiment with us. These musicians include:
Michael Lewis -- A gifted keyboardist, Michael currently performs and records with the group Quicksilver. Michael has composed music for an extensive list of motion pictures, and is sought by network television stations to write music for various commercials and television productions. Michael's musical range extends to music arrangement, conducting, engineering and producing, in addition to working as a musical director. In 1989 Michael founded his own digital recording studio and production company called Wombat Music, currently operated in West Hollywood.
Hugh Bundie Cenac--Bassist Hugh adds the bottom end on two tracks for this project. Hugh formerly was a member of the group Mandrill, and currently resides in the Bay Area.