Pan-African drumming ensemble

We assembled a new ensemble of African drummers and percussionists specially for Unforgotten Voyages at the Hackney Empire in June 2023. Their debut was stunning, audience response so enthusiastic that we decided to build a new show around them!

The ensemble is therefore a central feature of Pulse of Africa in October/November. Full details can be found on the EVENTS page. There is also an extensive workshop programme, and opporttunities for singers to join in.

Get a taster of their performance a the Empire in the raw, uncut video below.

Instrumentalists featured:

• Abass Dodoo (Ghana) djembe, kpanlogo

• Akinkunmi Kazeem Olagunju (Nigeria) talking drum

• Jonathan André (Côte d’Ivoire) dundun drums

• Tawanda Mapanda (Zimbabwe) balafon, kalimba

• Carlos Fuentes (Chile) berimbau, shekere

• Joshua Brandler (Jamaica) congas, agogo

• arranged and directed by Claude Deppa (South Africa)

The idea for creating this group of African drummers grew out of a project at St John on Bethnal Green in October 2022, commissioned for Black History Month by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.