Home

About us...

Djembeschool.org was inspired by Mamady Keita's Tam Tam Mandingue School in Brussels. It was set up in 2001 to provide tuition in traditional West African djembe and dance. From the end of 2002 it started running projects with Sewa Education and JamoJamo Arts who share it's values and aims and continue to work together on a long term programme of education provision for all ages.

Sewa Education was a performing arts organisation set up in April 2002 dedicated to using the music of West Africa to communicate the joy of drumming and dance; to deliver the experience of active participation in real music-making. In the summer of 2007 due to lack of funding it was forced to close it's doors but had built up a very strong reputation for high quality provision of African Music Education. Many of the schools and teacher training colleges continue to work with the Sewa-education artists who you can contact through this site.

JamoJamo Arts is a performing arts organisation set up by Sengegalese Artist Landing Mane which provides performance and training opportunities for all including annual drum and dance trips to Senegal, for further information go to www.jamojamoarts.com

Together we work in a variety of educational settings ranging from Infant and Junior Schools, to Secondary Schools and Higher and Further Education Colleges. We contribute to Continuing Professional Development teacher training courses and work with Local Education Authorities to provide larger-scale residency work. Our members include freelance artists, teachers and music educators. All focus upon the development of musicianship through a deeper understanding and experience of West African music.

We are:

Eliza Dickie: Djembeschool Director

Eliza has been learning and playing Mandingue music since '92. She spent '94-'95 in West Africa mainly in Guinea and in Burkina Faso where she studied with the dance troupe Koba based in Bobo Dioulasso. She then spent two years in Brussels at Guinean musician Mamady Keita's djembe school Tam Tam Mandingue. She has organised various workshops and performances for African artists in the UK and Scotland; she's also worked as assistant to the Manager of the Les Ballets Africains and Fela Kuti, for Serious music producers and at the European Commission in Brussels while studying at the Tam Tam Mandingue school. She now works as a sessional music teacher for Ealing Music Service and runs the djembe ensemble at Kingston University. She has also run music projects in schools in collaboration with other musicians as well as teaching community groups in and outside London. She regularly organises West African dance and music workshops in London with visiting teachers and artists to support her work. She is working to develop an annual programme of regular workshops and ongoing tuition in West African music and dance for adults. She plays with Vieux Bakayoko's performance troupe Hamana Bjemakan www.hamanaafrica.co.uk

Landing Mane: JamoJamo Arts Director

A performing artist for over 20 years, Landing Mané embodies the spirit of Senegalese music and dance. Landing has studied traditional West African dance and drumming since the age of 4, and received formal training in Afro jazz and classical ballet at the Natrional Conservatory of Dakar. He was Artistic Director and Choreographer of Bakalama of Thionck-Essyl in Dakar, a group founded by his father, for five years.

Since arriving in London in 1998, Landing has worked as a choreographer, dancer and musician and has performed with Adam Benjamin, co-founder of CandoCo Dance Company, Badejo Arts, Sakoba, Mashengo and Rhino Drum. He performs at festivals throughout Britain and Europe, including WOMAD, Drum Call and Winter Drum. He also works as an educator and workshop facilitator with Sewa Beats, Sewa Education, Drum Café and Step Afrika, sharing his knowledge and passion with students of all ages. Landing is a versatile musician and dancer with innate talent for performing and teaching, and an energy which inspires joy in all.

Emily Keeler: Sewa-Education Director

Qualifying in 1996, Emily worked as a music coordinator and class teacher in an Ealing primary school for two years. Subsequently, while travelling in Africa during 1998/9 she was impressed by the power and beauty of African drumming and was inspired to learn more about African music and culture. On her return to London, Emily began work as a specialist music teacher, also taking up part-time M.A. studies in Music Education at the Institute for Education, University of London. She now works as a specialist and advisory music teacher in a range of London schools whilst coordinating Sewa Education Projects. She has recently been awarded a Best Practice Research Scholarship to conduct a qualitative study into the application of traditional West African pedagogy to class music teaching in the U.K.

Adura Onashile: Company Secretary and Lead Facilitator

Adura Onashile is a professional actor, dancer and artist educator. She facilitates workshops based around West African dance traditions to adult and school groups encouraging participants to develop their dance potential through working with rhythm, character and creating their own choreographies. She began working as an artist educator in touring productions with companies such as Kabudu, in the South West of England, the Birmingham based African Cultural Exchange, and the London based Badejo Arts. The tours included workshops to different age groups centred on themes within the show. She devised and taught a project for The Museum of London Schools programme, choreographing a performance with 13 and 14 year olds for the opening of the Museum's World City Gallery and has led workshops as part of the Mwalimu Express Events in South London produced by Ziggurat Ltd. She has an honours degree in Theatre and has studied folk dance traditions in Nigeria, Cuba, North America and Australia.

Co-Facilitators

We have worked with many other freelance performing artists and musicians from West Africa, France, Germany, Belgium, the UK and the US including... Ousmane Mane, Aliou Diallo, Baba Kone, Ousmane Seye, Bucarr N'Dow, Malo Sonko, Musa M'Boob, N'Faly Kouyate, Mamady Keita, Cece Koly, Youssouf Traore, Elion Gilbert, Seny Toure, Afua Awuku, Salifou Syllah, Thierry Malard, Alicia Davies, Muriel Kouyate, Tobias Sturmer, Sonja Toure and Lou Ciccotelli.

Home