Bumbada! Women Drumming are the sirens of drum…they will lure you into the rhythms of the drum forever! The group is a Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Maryland-based women’s drumming adventure that is named after the sounds of the drum, boom, ba, da (Bass, tone, snap). Bumbada! plays West-African based drumming music, while adding its own feminine and powerful flair. You will get hooked, beware! Tammi Hessen is the musical director and lead of the group.
Tammi Hessen is a Lancaster, PA-based drummer and percussionist who has been studying in the West African hand drum tradition of djembe/dununs, and continues to discover and celebrate the nature and power of the drum as a musical instrument and tool for joy, transformation, and personal and community healing. She teaches and performs, and believes that drumming can unite people from the inside –out.
She has traveled to Africa to study drumming, and has studied with numerous teachers in the US. Tammi began teaching drumming classes in Baltimore Maryland in 2003, and continues to teach in the PA area. She also plays percussion with local musicians such as Bobbi Carmitchell and has recorded with Ubaka Hill. Tammi has performed at local and national festivals, produced ongoing weekend drumming retreats, organized festivals, and composed music on her drums and steel pan (which was her first love). She is an adjunct professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster PA where she directs the college’s African Drumming Ensemble and gives private lessons. You can contact Tammi directly for more information about the ongoing drumming classes in Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Reading, and Harrisburg Pennsylvania area, and for private lessons.
