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

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!!

James Gann of Wulaba in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise

James Gann, born in 1973, was a "free-range" child, unfettered by convention. His mother raised him in a small California biker-hippie community. He was to navigate his way through a number of obstacles before finding the right beat for the rhythm in his life.

Looking back, James remembers his younger years as a fun era, surrounded by musicians, art, some degree of discipline and a large degree of freedom. At age fourteen, he moved to Lawton, Okla. to be with his father and stepmother. Living in the city in an over-sheltered, highly restrictive culture was a radical change. He tried his best to behave, but found nothing he did was considered acceptable. Earlier, at the age of five, his mother had introduced him to drumming. He loved and practiced it for many years but after his move to Oklahoma, found it a skill which was neither approved of nor encouraged. Hard as those years were, he stuck it out through the 12th-grade. He tried to please his father, who was a drill sergeant in the military, but never seemed to do the right thing.

James had little interest in school but was an excellent athlete and much admired for his skills in ROTC classes. Partly for his father's sake, he had planned on joining the military after graduating. To James's surprise, his father, a Vietnam veteran who had known his share of suffering and indeed loved his son very much, talked him out of it. Instead, James was sent off to the National Education Center in Phoenix, Ariz. to study graphic arts. Sprung loose from the restraints of his Oklahoma home, he soon fell into the drug scene, his grades plummeted, and he dropped out of school a year-and-a-half later.

Returning to California, he adopted the gypsy life, rather enjoying the varied experience of living in different places. When he met a girl named Tara, life turned around. They went out together for two-and-a-half years before marrying in 1995 and settling down in Salinas. He stopped all drug use, took a job at UPS and another as a part-time roofer, made good money and had a nice home. The two of them were quite religious, joining first the Church of Christ and later the Pentecostals. Not quite satisfied with what he found, he slowly dropped away from formal religion. Today he says that he has found a stronger relation to God and one that is more joyous than he experienced in earlier years.

In 2000, still in California, James felt a certain lack of purpose in his life. Accomplished in several areas such as snowboarding, art and drumming, he excelled in none. Walking to the mailbox one day, he put it out to God: "I want to be really good at something." A few days later, it came to him what that something was - he wanted to become a master drummer. He found a mentor by the name of Abdulaye Diallo, a West African master drummer from Senegal who "took him under his wing." James bought a drum and upon going to Abdulaye for lessons, discovered the drum he bought had once belonged to his teacher. It seemed a good omen. Abdulaye, seeing talent in James, pushed him hard. At first it was real agony, his hands hurt, his shoulders and arms burned. But he persevered, advanced quickly, became passionate about West African drumming and grateful to his mentor for sticking with him and pushing him toward greater achievement. Unfortunately his wife, Tara, was not so enthused about his drumming. It gave her a headache every time he played.

The marriage, already sagging, ended two years later; the drumming did not. James pursued it with intensity for six years, doing some teaching and playing in his mentor's band, Casamance, named for the place he came from in Senegal.

Then, in 2005, walking to the mailbox again (was it something about communicating?), he spoke to God. "I need a partner, a woman with whom I can share mutual interests, one who is spiritual and one who does not get a headache when I play my drums!"

Once more, his wish was granted. Karen Guenette, a Lake Placid resident, was in California for a workshop on intuition. She met James when he was teaching an outdoor drumming class. Having learned to listen to his own inner rhythm, James now sensed that he had finally found the right person. On that beautiful day in July, Karen, following her own intuition, sat down to drum along. From that moment, the relationship grew, continuing by phone after Karen returned home. Six months later, in January 2006, James packed his belongings and moved east to join her.

Now living in Lake Placid, both their lives have expanded. Karen is a dedicated and accomplished figure skater who shares James's love of drumming, playing with him in performances. James, exceptional athlete that he is, learned to figure skate. Amazingly, in 2008, they skated together to take a Gold medal in the silver pairs level at the Nationals Skating Championships. They truly share one another's passions.

Today, James has been awarded two grants, gives lessons in West African drumming and collaborates with a colleague, Johnna McDougall, a West African dance teacher. He teaches in schools and at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. Community is important to him. He reaches out to children and adults alike, encouraging them to join him in the joys of drumming and dance. He has performed at JEMS in Jay, NCCC in Saranac Lake, Pendragon, the Saranac Lake Art Walks, the Winter Carnival Rotary Show and was honored to play this year at the opening ceremonies for the Empire State Games.

When he runs his drumming workshop at St. Joseph's Rehabilitation Center, he happily shares the rocky road that finally brought him to fulfillment. In 2006, he traveled to Senegal to improve his West African drumming technique; he looks forward to returning again in September. He also plays with Jamie Whidden's Capoeria group, an African-Brazilian dance and acrobatic art. Enthused and bubbling with energy, James has indeed finally found the right beat in his own life. --- Based on an interview with James Gann. Caperton Tissot can be reached at Tissot@SnowyOwlPress.com.

Wulaba Drum and Soma Beats performs for Saranac Lake Rotary Show

Wulaba and Soma Beats performed for the first time at the 2009 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Variety show hosted by the Saranac Lake Rotary. We were the first professional group to perform after the "court" performed and we got everyone up off their seats and clapping or dancing to the beat of the drum! The teenagers who were performing their own dance number quickly jumped out of their seats to dance along with Soma Beats. Wulaba performed Kakilambe as the Soma Beats dancers danced up to the stage in the 624 capacity seating-only event. We then debuted BAO. The stage was narrow because of the equipment out at the front so the dunun sticks actually hit some of our dancers during Bao! Luckily no one was injured :o) Then Johnna MacDougall, choreographer, joined the dancers to do DJOLE. The energy was HIGH and it set the stage for great performances that night including Inisheer and the Dustbunnies and Long Hairs, two other professional groups. All in all, we had a fabulous time! We are just waiting for copies of the video!

Soma Beats & Wulaba perform Djole New Year's Eve!

Wulaba Drums for Adirondack Marathon

On Sunday September 21st, Wulaba was on the race track at the Adirondack Marathon in Schroon Lake to help those marathoners push through with the beating of the drums echoing the beating of their hearts. Together with Burlington Taiko and Songs of the Spheres (another West African drumming group), we were strategically placed along the entire race track until the racers went through the finish line. We heard, "Thanks for the drumming! That really helped!" over and over again. We saw kids on the sidelines cheering for their mom or dad and bouncing up and down to the beat of the West African drums while they waited. Wulaba got together with Len Mackey to perform together near the finish line, where Len performed on the Balaphone while Wulaba played drums. He also played the African flute which, apparently, could be heard for miles. We look forward to next year when we'll be able to jam together outdoors again! It was an awesome day! Karen

Capoeira, Soma Beats & Wulaba Drum at the Art Walk

Thursday Sept. 18th, which was the birthday of one of our drummers, Sandy Muller, we celebrated by drumming at the Saranac Lake Art Walk. Jamie Whidden was there on hand to show off the fluid martial arts moves of Capoeira, a brazilian art form. Jamie, James and I did some Capoeira together. I had a half Capoeira outfit - half African outfit on for the occasion. Johnna Macdougall, African Dance teacher, brought several of her Soma Beats dancers to dance with us. We even had a few spectators dance this year which was awesome! Just like last year, we were in front of the town hall - the perfect place to be for lots of attention! Karen

Lorraine Wilson Memorial Party Drum Video

Wulaba in the News