African Drum and Dance Ensemble

The Tallahassee Community College African Drum and Dance Ensemble was founded in January of 2006.  The mission of the ensemble has always been to learn, share, and explore aspects of Sub-Saharan African and African Diaspora music, dance and culture with the TCC community, Tallahassee, and the world at large.  The ensemble is directed by Lisa Beckley-Roberts and Kermit Harrison with Akinlana Lowman serving as the ensemble’s second lead drummer to date.  The group’s repertoire includes music and dance from Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, the Caribbean, and The United States. The ensemble sings, plays djembe, dundun, bells, shekere, kalimba, kidi, kaganu, amadinda, akogo, ngoma, kalimba, and a host of other instruments.  Since the ensembles humble beginnings with 10 members, we have grown to an organization with a credit course component with 22 registered students and an additional 20 students who volunteer to participate in the performing ensemble rehearsing for an additional 2-4 hours every week.  Members of the ensemble vary in experience from those who began at the start of this semester to seasoned performers of varying styles with over 20 years of performance experience.  The ensemble is open to faculty, staff, and students at TCC as well as the larger Tallahassee community.  We welcome people who are interested in furthering our mission and the TCC mission regardless of age, race, religion, or creed.

For more information contact Lisa Beckley-Roberts, Associate Professor of Humanities/Music at (850) 201-9604 or beckleyl@tcc.fl.edu

Photo by Jessica Noel.