Drum Brothers

	Brothers of the Drum Mark Shepard & Kazi Oliver in Concert
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	They say that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Kazi Oliver appeared in my life at the perfect time for me. He has dedicated his life to a deep and authentic knowledge and practice of Traditional West African Polyrhythmic Drumming. He is a virtuoso plain and simple. With his impeccable training I was able to integrate African drumming into my solo performances in a way that honors that deep tradition. Over the years we have also shared the joys of performing together. For a long time I was a part of his group "The Kazi Oliver Drummers". And for several years now where schedules and budgets allow, he has accompanied me in my Drum of the Elephant King Program. We have often talked about creating a program together.
	Whereas Kazi is what you might call a "specialist", I am a "generalist". In addition to African drumming I've been studying the Irish Bodhran, the Egyptian Riq, the Indian Khanjira, the Siberian Sham Drum, etc.
	In this program we combine African drumming with drumming from all over the world to demonstrate how drumming is a common cultural structure that brings people together. The overall theme is peace and tolerance. We strive to demonstrate how we listen to each other, how we work together to create music and how our differences are really our strengths and need to be appreciated as such. We also explore how each culture uses materials readily accessible to it to make their instruments with whether it is large trees, thin strips of wood, animal bones, or 35 gallon steel canisters! Where and when appropriate we invite audience members to be a part of our group in a way that reinforces tolerance for ourselves (nobody's perfect) and each other (we're all in this together).
	The real reason we created this program? Because when we play together creative sparks fly and both of us as well as many audience members experience a wonderful natural high. And that's reason enough for us!
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