About Namaste

Several members of Namaste Drumming also teach classes. Bios of the three instructors who are featured in the Beginning Hand Drumming DVD follow:

In 2005, Mike Morse started Namaste Drumming with a group of drum instructors and performers. The goal of Namaste Drumming is to educate and perform passing on the joy of hand drumming to as many people as possible.

Mike has been a student of hand drumming from birth, but began formal training in 1994. He has studied with Master Drummers Mamady Keita, Ibrahima Camara, and Tito Puente. He has performed at the Arlington Center for the Arts, Cambridge Octoberfest and May Day celebrations, and the Acton Jazz Cafe. He has taught hand drumming since 1997, first at Colebrook High School in Acton, then through Acton Boxborough Community Education. He has brought together drummers for performances at the Hudson Holiday Stroll, World AIDS Day in Framingham, Frederick Scott Gallery in Sudbury, the Marlborough Saturday Morning Discovery Series, Helping Hand Food Pantry Benefit, and Katrina Relief Benefit to send high school students to New Orleans to help during their school vacation. Mike has also performed with Newton All City Chorus, Regis College Glee Club, and Somerville Community Chorus. He has facilitated drum circles in Lunenburg and Hudson.

Liz Pacheco has been studying and playing West African djembe and dunun drums for many years. She is a member of the Hare Makeno Performance Troupe, and has taught traditional hand drumming classes in and around the Boston area for the past five years. She has studied with Master Drummers Mamady Keita and Famoudou Konate from Guinea, and was dubbed “Kenkeni-Fola” by Famoudou Konate in his last trip to Boston. She has also studied Arthur Hall’s Village Music Circles Drum Circle Facilitation techniques, and the facilitator of the Jamaica Plain Community Drum Circle. She has facilitated and lead impromptu drum circles at local events and parades, and is always looking for new ways to bring the love of rhythm and drum to the community.

Linda Shoemaker is the founder and Director of the Mystic Drummers, a community drum troupe affiliated with the Mystic Chorale, Boston's most unique world music community choir led by Nick Page. In addition to their work with the Mystic Chorale, the Mystic Drummers have performed at community festivals and events including First Night Boston, the Revels Autumn Equinox RiverSing, and the "Gift of Art for AIDS." Linda has taught African style drumming and song in a variety of community settings, including the Arlington Center for the Arts, the Ferry Beach Retreat Center, the Boston Children's Chorus, and Unitarian Universalist church services, ceremonies and celebrations throughout New England.

For more information, contact Linda Shoemaker and the Mystic Drummers at:

LShoemaker@wn.net