Artistic Director Daryl Burgee travelled to West Africa in January to research traditional music of Senegal and Guinea with support from The Independence Foundation.
Samba batterie leader Alex Shaw received a 2007 Independence Foundation Fellowship to travel to Brazil where he researched traditional Afro/Brazilian music.
Co Director and tabla batterie leader Lenny Seidman received a 2007 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to support creative work and artistic development.
Spoken Hand’s “fabulous sonic textures…and sheer
high energy shook the house.“
– Philadelphia
Inquirer
“The most astonishing evening
of drumming I can remember!”
– Philadelphia
Forum
A high-energy celebration of polyphonic rhythms, Spoken Hand Percussion
Orchestra unifies four percussion batteries into one distinct voice:
North Indian tabla, Afro Cuban bata,
Brazilian samba and West African djembe.
They link the past and the present, the sacred and the secular with
a symphonically textured fusion of traditional and contemporary
drumming and choral compositions. Spoken Hand is a two-time winner
of Philadelphia City Paper’s “Best World Music/Roots
Performance” and is nationally recognized for its collaboration
with tabla master Zakir Hussain and hip-hop dance guru Rennie Harris
in the “Flammable Contents” project.
“Any of these three acts can pack the house…Put them
all on the same bill at the arts center and it’ll be one of
those get-out-the-crowbar-to-fit-everyone-in evenings.”
– Philadelphia City Paper
“…WOW! The performance left everyone pleasantly overpowered
by the collective mastering of such soul-stirring, complex compositions.
It was as if I was standing simultaneously on different parts of
the world, but everyone was moving to the singular rhythm of the
earth.”
– Lynn Johnson, Founding Director of Amerimasala Festival
