Fun at the Teddy Bear Picnic in Lake Placid!

What a fun time in Lake Placid with Soma Beat and Wulaba Drum "doing their thing" for the kids and adults at the Teddy Bear Picnic in Lake Placid last Sunday! Lots of smiles going around!

Join us for First Night in Saranac Lake!

Wulaba Drum and Soma Beats will be performing Tuesday December 31, 2013 at the Saranac Lake Library.  There will be two shows: 8PM and 9PM.  This is a child-friendly show and there will be audience participation during the Community dance at the end.  Come celebrate the new year with us!  For the full schedule go to: http://firstnightsaranaclake.org/index.html

Soma Beats and Wulaba Drum Featured on Public Television

Watch February 23, 2012 on PBS. See more from Mountain Lake Journal.

Wulaba and Soma Beats Performing at Saranac Lake Farmers' Market

Juneteenth Celebration at John Brown Farm in Lake Placid Sunday June 19th!

Come join Soma Beats dancers and Wulaba Drum West African drumming for the Father's Day Juneteenth Celebration - John Brown's Farm, Lake Placid, NY - Sunday June 19th 2011 12noon - 5pm:

12-1PM - Community Drum Circle - bring an instrument, spoons, pots and pans

1-2PM - Kid's Corner in the Barn -- recycled instrument making class Bring: empty toilet paper and/or paper towel holders

2-4PM - A " Celebration of Freedom "Spirit of West Africa in Poetry, Music and Dance" (Light picnic fare will be provided, bring additional items as needed or wanted)

4-5PM - Community Dance

Summer Drum and Dance Classes Beginning June 21st!

This summer, we have a new home for our African dance classes with Soma Beats! The dance studio is Mountains in Motion in Saranac Lake, NY.

Also new is beginner African drumming classes (djembe drums) with James of Wulaba Drum. You can sign up for both drum and dance class eight weeks for only $80!

If you prefer to sign up for just one or the other, the details are below:

8 week Summer Session: Tuesdays June 21—August 16th (Skip July5th)

6-7pm Beginner African Drum Class with Wulaba
—limited number of Djembes are available
$12 per class; $44 / 4 class card; $80 full series card


7-8:30 African Dance Class
$15 per class; $52 / 4 class card; $80 full series card

Sign up for drum and/or dance classes

Contact: Johnna@somabeats.com, call 518-791-9586, or visit SOMABEATS on facebook for more details.  For drumming information, contact James at 518-524-1834

Wulaba Drum and Soma Beats Perform for Reason2Smile Fundraiser

Below are some videos from our latest performance at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts as part of Reason2Smile's Annual Fundraiser. This Soma Beats dancers have been practicing for months and just got nifty new outfits just for this performance!

Celebrating African Style!

The North Country came out in support for Jambo Jipya School at the first ever Reason2Smile Arts Night held at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts in early March. Attendees enjoyed perusing the artwork made by professional and student artists, as well as the Kenyan marketplace which filled the lower lobby of the LPCA. The Saranac Lake High School Men and Women’s Ensembles started off the evening and were soon followed by the UVM Top Cats (an all male a cappella group from the University of Vermont). The place was rocking as the Top Cats shared their talent and energy. To end the night with an African feel, Wulaba Drummers and Somabeats Dancers took the stage and got the blood pumping! There wasn’t a still foot in the theatre as the audience got into the African groove! Over $3,000 was raised at the event and was sent straight to Jambo Jipya School! A very special thank you to the LPCA staff as well as to all the performers and volunteers! It was an incredibly successful evening! Thanks a lot to all who attended! We’re looking forward to seeing you at next year’s Reason2Smile Arts Night!

African Dance Classes at the LPCA Annex!

Join us for Beginner African dance classes Tuesdays at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts in Lake Placid, NY. We dance in the Annex building (formerly the craft center) from 7-8PM. Then from 8 - 8:30PM our Soma Beats dancers rehearse their performance numbers (you can stay and watch).

Cost: $10 per class or 4 classes for $32 through December 21st, 2010. Winter session starts January 7th.

For more information, call James at 518-524-1834

Jeh Kulu Drum and Dance Festival

Wulaba drummers and Soma Beats Dancers took the trip across the lake to participate in Jeh Kulu's Annual Drum and Dance Festival in Burlington, VT. The majority of the dance troupe was able to come on Saturday to do a couple classes with Jeh Kulu and learn some "new" moves.

We were most excited to learn the dance to Sinte. Why? Because Wulaba drum knows that rhythm and we hadn't created a dance to it. How wonderful to see the "real thing" as taught by Jeh Kulu's Sidiki Sylla.

The drummers took advantage of the djembe classes, krin, balafone and dunun classes. Our "craziest" wild woman dancer, ShoShana, took nine dance classes and one drum class over two days!!

Art Walk Saranac Lake, August 2010

We enjoyed playing for the Art Walk in Saranac Lake this August. It was two hours of almost straight drumming! Our favorite part is having a two year old boy dancing away to our music...and it was cool when a big dog howled after we finished!

Blue Mountain Lake Community Dance to Tiriba

Here is our video of Tiriba, the community dance - the last dance of the night where we get the audience involved. Notice the high energy and booty shaking going on! The song starts out with our Soma Beats dancers doing their solos, followed by the community being invited to dance along.

This performance was at the Adirondack Arts Center in Blue Mountain Lake, New York in July 2010.

A Night Full of Talent and Laughter

Johnna MacDougall of Soma Beats (left) Karen Kan and James Gann of Wulaba rock the Concert for Jambo Jipya.

Saturday March 6th marked the 2nd Annual Concert for Jambo Jipya held in the Saranac Lake High School Audito- rium. This year’s event proved to be even more lively than last year. Quite a crowd of people from across the north country showed up to enjoy an evening of high school musical talent, energetic college acapella, as well as African drumming and dance. Those who came certainly weren’t disap- pointed. Each group proved to be incredibly talented and seeing the college students on stage being led by Wulaba Drumming and Somabeats in African dance, was a real treat! If you missed out this year, be looking for information on next year’s event. It truly is an evening you don’t want to miss!

Thank you very much to all who participated and all who attended. A special thank you to Gail Meyer and her team of volunteers for all their help running the African Marketplace and making the night a true success!

NEW Solo/Dance West African Drumming CD released!

Want to Solo Like Master Djembe Drummers?

Well, now you can. James Gann had that same desire when he began West African drumming classes. The problem was that he was too intimidated to solo in class. At home he tried practicing his solo technique, but found it challenging without the accompaniment.



His Senegalese drum teacher used to say, “In order to solo well, you need to have strong accompaniment”. Now, a decade later, as a drum instructor and performer, James created this CD especially for drummers like you to help you rapidly improve your solo drumming ability with the drum accompaniment of popular West African rhythms.



“This CD will help your confidence. Feel free to find your own solo style that works for you. Give it a shot!" – James Gann



“Whenever I would attend a drum festival, I was nervous about soloing in front of strangers. Now I’m not because of this CD! I love it!” – Karen Kan

Also Great for West African Dancing!

This CD also makes a perfect practice CD for West African dancing, whether it is in the privacy of your own home or in dance class – with or without a live Djembe soloist!

Ten percent of revenue from the sale of this CD is donated to Reason2Smile, www.reason2smile.org, a charitable organization that supports Jambo Jipya The Future Child School (located just north of Mombasa , Kenya ) whose mission is to educate, clothe and feed orphaned and at-risk children of Kenya .



Bonus tracks with each purchase!

You can drum at any age!

Here's young Maggie learning how to play the Dununs to KuKu with an appreciative mom, Traci, playing the djembe. James was teaching both this past summer.

Wulaba Motivates ADK Marathoners in Schroon Lake

Volunteer Tony Kostecki jumped into to play with Wulaba!

While Wulaba Drum leader, James Gann, was in Africa doing an intensive training, the skeleton crew of Karen Kan, Christina and Dusty Grant, made their way yesterday to Schroon Lake for the annual Adirondack Marathon.

It was a chilly morning at about 40 degrees when we arrived so everyone was thankful they brought layers. Wulaba was stationed at mile 11, 22 and at the finish line having short break between drumming session. The first ten minutes were a bit challenging as our hands were cold and a bit stiff (karen had gloves on at first!), but we warmed up quickly.

As marathoners ran, walked or biked by, most gave us a wave, a thumbs up, a smile and a, "THANK YOU!" as we drummed them up the next hill. Given the 5:30AM wake-up call for us, I can say it was well worth it to see the difference we made!

One woman, as she ran by said in an incredulous voice, "Who ARE you guys? You are incredible!" We were surprised but obviously thrilled with the comment. My guess is that the drums reverberated among the trees and rocks to be heard for well over a mile along the course.

One man on bicycle (and later on foot) actually slowed to a stop to ask where he can buy an djembe. Luckily we had Wulaba cards for John Paul. So we hope we'll be hearing from him soon!

Once we made the move from the forest to the highway, we were in full sun and layers of clothing were peeled off. In fact, we all got a sun tan! Much to our surprise, we attracted another drummer to play with us! ADK Marathon volunteer, Tony Kostecki, general director of Seagle Music Colony, joined us for KukuKase, Kakilambe and Triba after a quick 10 second lesson from Karen.

We met our dance teacher, Johnna MacDougall at the finish line where her and her band of happy massage therapists were doing their thing for all the athletes. We also got to say a quick hello to Stuart Paton from Burlington Taiko who was also on hand with his group drumming around the last corner before the finish line.

Drum and Dance at Lake Placid Center for the Arts

Wulaba Drummers celebrated Salute to the Arts Day at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Wednesday August 26th together with two members of the Soma Beats Dancers, Tammy Loewy and Melanie Niemczura. On Thursday August 27th, Wulaba was on hand to present live drumming before and after the incredible film, Throw Down Your Heart, a story of how virtuoso banjo player Bela Fleck travelled to parts of Africa searching for the origins of the Banjo and playing with traditional musicians. Inspired by the film, movie-goers got to dance and try some drumming of their own during the after-movie Drum Circle celebrations at the LPCA (see above pictures). Nine year old Mistra, originally from South Africa, led the dancing.

Wulaba and Soma Beats Heat Up Will Rogers!

On Saturday August 22nd, they performed on stage at the Will Rogers retirement community. Retirees on foot, in wheelchairs and with oxygen tanks came to watch as did children and other community members. Despite the multitude of fans in the room and on stage, Wulaba and Soma Beats drummers and dancers worked up such a sweat that the pre-alarms went off (fire alarms) because of the temperature rise in the room! Although somewhat reserved, a few Will Rogers residents got up the courage to shake their bootie and dance. Everyone, of course, enjoyed the "kids dance" where the kids got up on stage to strut their stuff. Nine year old Mistra, a member of the junior dance troupe was there to encourage all the kids.

Latest Wulaba Drum - Soma Beats Videos

Check out our Wulaba Drum Videos link for videos from our June 2009 performance in Jay, New York at the Julia and Amos Ward Theatre (Jems Group)

Jems Community Dance June, 2009 - Maraka Don