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Several students come from Burkina, Mali, and different Ivory Coast regions to learn from me. I feel like a father figure to the orphans in the neighborhood. We want to have a place to continue teaching our traditions.
Abidjan | Founded 2017 | 100+ Youth Served
Adama and Dramane Dembele are 33rd generation musicians from Ivory Coast, West Africa. Adama Dembele resides in Asheville, NC, and his brother, Dramane resides in Ivory Coast. On January 12, 2015, the Ivory Coast government demolished their family home and many others in Abobo (a city of 1.5 million people), citing erosion and unsafe conditions, a fact that is common in this part of the country where very little infrastructure exists. Thousands of people were pushed out of their homes with one week’s notice–some forced at gunpoint–and were given no temporary housing or compensation. Many families and children are now homeless with little expectation that the Ivory Coast government will provide housing or reimbursement for those impacted. To support the continuation of the inspirational work of the Dembele family, LEAF partners with Dramane and Krimbo Delagrange to provide West African Drum & Dance traditions to the community.
Demolished in 2015 by the government, the Djembeso Drum & Dance Education Center was a place for people of all ages to study drumming, dance, and learn about West African culture. Local Asheville musicians have traveled to study there, including members of Zansa and Toubab Krewe, as well as countless others from around the world. The Dembele household, known as Djembeso, or House of Djembe, has been a link between Asheville and West Africa for over a decade, though the family has been sharing their music for centuries. The Dembele family has been passing on their musical heritage and culture for nearly 700 years. Because of the great amount of respect LEAF has for African traditions and its culture keepers, LEAF partners with Krimbo Delagrange and the Dembele family to support the continuation of West African Drum and Dance classes in the Ivory Coast.
This LEAF International program includes:
Twice-daily rehearsals focusing on traditional West African dance & drumming
Monthly Community Performances
Meals for youth between rehearsals
Rehearsals in Ivory Coast and Mali
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Resiliency – Even without a standing culture center, Culture Keeper Dramane Dembele creates a partnership with the SOS d’Abobo Orphanage to teach classes 3 times per week. His classes quickly reached full capacity in a matter of days.
Official LEAF International Ivory Coast program created.
4th Annual Soumu Event – A fundraiser and celebration of African Music, Dance, Food, & Art on Sept 16. Funds were raised through the Soumu Event for the purchase of land in Bomako, Mali. Mali was chosen as the new location over Ivory Coast for reasons such as safety and the Malian government’s history of supporting music and preserving culture.
KRIMBO, whose name means “genius of the drum-speaker,” is a percussionist, dancer, painter and artistic trainer. His professional aptitude led him to several troupes in Ivory Coast and in the sub-region. With the recruitment of several children, he created his artistic dance company in 2006 to train youth in the art of art in general, dance, percussion, storytelling, singing, painting. With this need, the KRIMBO Artistic Training Center (CFAK) was born because it was inspired by an expression drawn from the confines of the Akan region. Krimbo demonstrates all his talent as a percussionist and dancer in the Ivory Coast, Europe and Asia.
Dramane Dembele is a 33rd generation djembe player and teacher from Ivory Coast, West Africa. The first teacher and performer of his generation, Dra commands the full array of African drums- doundoun, sangbang, kinkine. His in-depth knowledge of West African rhythms, and the dances that accompany them, make Dra one of the most respected culture-keepers in all of Ivory Coast.
Over his 30+ year career as a performer and teacher, Dra has directed and produced over a dozen traditional drum and dance groups around Ivory Coast’s largest city of Abidjan. Hundreds of professional players have come from all over West Africa, including Burkina Faso and Mali, to study specifically with Dra.
Dra began studying music at an early age from his grandfather and father, playing and studying for hours on end. By the time he was 18, his mentors had both passed, and Dra found himself as the head of the household. He taught his younger brothers everything he knew and soon became a father figure to them as well as to young orphans and homeless children in their village. They would come to the Dembele house, later known as “Djembeso,” or “house of djembe,” to learn about their Ivorian culture- music, dance, and language.
When they came of age, Dra encouraged his brothers to travel and share their culture with the rest of the world. As they traveled, however, Dra never felt he could leave Ivory Coast, with dozens of family and friends depending on him. He remains in Ivory Coast to this day, teaching and sharing his vast knowledge with local children, travelers, and professional drummers from around the globe.
“We always learn a lot and very fast. Like yesterday we started drumming and today we are professional because of the General, our teacher.”
(Known as “The General” for his command of all things musical and traditional, culture keeper Dramane brought the djembe into the world of thousands of students & professional musicians. )