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Community Corner

The Fun of the Drum

What better way to bust out of the winter blues than to take the family to a drumming and world music concert?


The concert is set for 2 p.m. March 3 at the Nyack Center in Nyack, N.Y., and features David Ellenbogen, Michael Wimberly and Rubén González.


It is a benefit for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockland, located in Pomona, N.Y. The congregation donated to Ellenbogen to help him after his New York City apartment suffered water damage after a fire. Ellenbogen's late grandmother had been a member of the congregation. Tickets are $10; or $5 for ages 12 and younger, available at www.uurocklandny.org or http://funofthedrum.eventbrite.com/#. For information, call the UUCR at 845-354-1789 and leave a message.

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Master drummer Michael Wimberly, known for his work with artists ranging from P-Funk to Steve Coleman, leads a family-friendly interactive concert of global rhythms.


On guitars and percussion, Argentina’s Rubén González and New York’s David Ellenbogen will introduce electric rhythms and songs that will have both children and their parents dancing and jamming along. Teens and adults without children in tow will also enjoy the event. Some percussion will be provided.

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Ellenbogen is an accomplished musician, radio DJ and concert producer. He has been a producer of Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and a WKCR-FM 89.9 radio host. As a guitarist and vocalist, he has performed internationally and at home in New York. He performs everything from Hendrix to Bach and incorporates world music styles that span continents and centuries. Ellenbogen's company, World Music Education, provides group lessons with master musicians from all around the globe. He currently records and performs with Acoustic Mandala Project and Karavan Kosmiko.


Recently sailing down the river from Timbuktu after the war in Mali started, he was the last traveling musician to perform in a lot villages in Mali. With the greatest musicians from Mali, he's performing and producing concerts and radio shows in NYC. Many of the musicians are from a caste in which all their families have been musicians since the 14th century.


Wimberly has collaborated with Steve Coleman on many projects, live and in the studio, including the creation of The Five Elements (including David Gilmore and Don Byron). In addition to being a drummer and percussionist, Wimberly is a composer and has written for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Joffrey Ballet. Although his percussive repertoire is replete with traditional rhythms, Wimberly is known for playing cutting-edge music involving a meld of visuals and audio, not to mention a penchant for contemporary jazz.


He is a member of The Collective (formerly Drummers’ Collective). He has performed/recorded with P-Funk, Steve Coleman, Mama Tongue, and Charles Gayle.


González is coming out with an album of music for kids that's pretty amazing. He is a composer and guitarist originally from San Juan, Argentina, where he studied classical guitar. In New York City, he has studied and performed in the African American tradition, jazz, blues and Afro Caribbean music. He’s been a teaching artist in New York City public schools for more than a decade, focusing on early childhood and percussion orchestra as well as general music.


The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockland invites everyone to join the fun on March 3.

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