Beyond Borders Musicians and Vocalists
Volker Nahrmann
Bassist, Composer, Keyboardist
Volker Nahrmann is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with additional studies in Graz, Austria and Frankfurt, Germany in jazz and classical performance. He is the co-founder of UNU MONDO & BEYOND BORDERS and is the principal bassist for SYMPHONY NH based in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Volker and Randy collaborated on the 1994 CD release, Hand in Hand on the Global Pacific Records label featuring many of his original compositions and his skilled bass & keyboard performances. Volker also performed on the 1989 album, World Dance with Do’a World Music Ensemble that reached the Top 10 of several national charts including #7 in Billboard. In 2015, Volker & Randy co-produced the album, Beyond Borders.
The Boston Pheonix has stated “Nahrmann’s hypnotic solo nearly stopped the show.” Performing together for over thirty-five years, Volker Nahrmann and Randy Armstrong have earned critical acclaim and ever-widening audience enthusiasm. “One of the hottest world music bands in the country” (The Patriot News). “Ridiculously talented!” (Metroland). Volker is the author of the book, The Music of Oscar Pettiford.
Volker also owns the highly successful Narhmann Bass Shop in Billerica, Massachusetts.
Jose Roman Duque
Drummer, Composer
Jose R. Duque is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. He is an innovative and versatile musician from Venezuela now living in Miami, who performs in a variety of styles from Jazz, Latin, and World Music to R&B, Rock and Pop. Jose is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMY Awards) and has composed, recorded and released numerous albums with his ensembles: THE GED TRIO; Jose Duque’s RELOAD, ZUMBATRES and ROMAN(US).
While living in seacoast New Hampshire, he performed with the Randy Armstrong Trio, Randy Armstrong World Fusion Ensemble and recorded on the 2015 album release, BEYOND BORDERS. Other recording and performance projects include the album, Etymologywith British bassist, Colin Edwin of the band, Porcupine Tree; Jon Durant’s album, Burnt Belief; Emigdio Suarez & SUPERPOWER; the Jazzilian Project with Jose Gallegos and Ed Calle; Jazz vocalist, Yvette Norwood-Tiger; and the Jonathan Auerbach Trio.
Jose is an active music educator teaching drums at the Center Tone Music School in Key Biscayne, Florida and in his private studio. He has authored a book on drumming technique entitled, The Drummer’s Role with in-depth interviews featuring Antonio Sanchez, Adam Holtzman, Stephen Webber, Otmaro Ruiz and many others. He composed music for two independent films, Landscapes in a Truck and Summertime released in Spain in 2012-2013.
Jose Duque has been endorsed and performs with Soultone Cymbals, Los Cabos Drumsticks, Porter & Davies Stealth Monitoring Systems, Cympad Cymbal Optimizers and Kickport Bass Drum Enhancers.
Visit Jose Roman Duque’s Website
Theo Nii Martey
African Drummer & Dancer
Theo Nii Martey is a talented artist who was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. Theo is a Songwriter, Recording Artist, Producer, Performer, Teaching Artist, Award recipient of the 2019 Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education and he was featured on New Hampshire Magazine who’s it for 2019 IT LIST. His vibrant artist residencies give students an opportunity to experience hands-on West African drumming and a variety of dance styles. He has been on the Arts Council’s juried Arts Education Roster since 2005.Theo is an accomplished teacher of African drumming and dance and has receive numerous grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to teach school residencies, workshops and performances in dozens of schools all over New England. He enjoys working in a variety of settings, with children and adults, making music, teaching rhythms and songs, and telling the stories behind the songs and the Ga’s tribe.
He has collaborated with the Randy Armstrong World Fusion Ensemble, BEYOND BORDERS, Steve Ferraris’ Root System, Dan Perkins and the Manchester Choral Society for the Zulu Mass and Christmas Tapestry project and New Hampshire Theatre Project for the Dreaming Again production and taught West African Drumming and Dance as an Adjunct Professor at UNH. Theo’s work has contributed to international diversity and cultural understanding throughout NH and New England. Whether he is onstage performing or leading a workshop, Theo says that making people feel welcome, which happens to be the Twi language’s meaning of “Akwaaba,” is the goal of everything that he does.
History and Upbringing
At the age of 6, Theo began performing with the African Personality Youth Ensemble and then joined the Shidaa Cultural Troup in 1989. At age 17 he joined the Dance Factory Company at the National Theater of Ghana in 1997, one of the most sought-after performance ensembles in Ghana. When in London in 2000-2002, he performed with the Brekete Drum and Dance Ensemble. While touring with the Brekete Ensemble, drummer, dancer, and choreographer Theo Martey, formulated the idea to create the Akwaaba Ensemble in 2002. The Akwaaba Ensemble’s energetic and engaging performances are a reflection of their name, which means ‘welcome’ in the Twi language of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. At each performance the Ensemble brings West African drumming, music and dance to vivid life, holding sway with the rich and subtle rhythmic patterns and styles specific to different tribal groups of West Africa.
ERINI
Vocalist
Vocalist Erini (aka Erini Tornesaki) blurs the lines between genres and explores intercultural dialogue through music. Born and raised in Heraklion, Greece, Eirini is a vocalist of jazz, Greek traditional music, and contemporary styles. Growing up on Crete, she was always moved by the stories of her family who were refugees from Smyrna (Izmir) in 1922. Fascinated by the Greek culture of Asia Minor, she became passionate for the traditional music of the region.
Erini is currently an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music. In 2014, Erini became the singer for the Cirque du Soleil show Kurios, touring Canada and the U.S. for three years. Between 2014 and 2017, she performed 1,074 shows. She was the original singer of Kurios and performed the vocals on the show’s soundtrack album, appeared on the DVD, and appeared at the Daytime Emmy Awards, winning the virtual reality short film award for Inside the Box of Kurios
Erini has performed in multiple countries including Cuba, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, and the U.S., and has collaborated with artists such as Danilo Pérez, George Garzone, Luciana Souza, Daniel Hope, and Saw Doctors, among many others. She had her Carnegie Hall debut in June 2017, opening for the Gabby Awards. She has also performed at TD Garden, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the Panama Jazz Festival, Abbey Road Studios, and Harvard University, among other prestigious venues.
Website: https://www.erinimusic.com
Jiri Nedoma
Pianist, Arranger, Keyboardist
Jiri Nedoma was born on October 7, 1978, in Prague, Czech Republic. He began piano lessons at the age of five and was soon after introduced to wind instruments, which later led to his studies on the trombone.
After high school, Jiri enrolled at the Conservatory of Jaroslav Jezek in Prague, where he focused simultaneously on classical and jazz music. During his studies, he became a member of the prominent Czech Radio Big Band, performing with many jazz and pop artists across Europe. Jiri was a finalist in Belgium’s Jazz Hoeilaart International Contest as a member of the Ondrej Stveracek Quartet; he was also one of two selectees to represent the Czech Republic at the Visegrad Alliance meeting of four central European states.
After receiving a significant scholarship from Berklee College of Music’s World Scholarship Tour, Jiri left Prague for Boston, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance. He was awarded the Claire Beskind Award for outstanding achievement and contributions to the piano department. Following the completion of his studies at Berklee, Jiri received the Helena Foundation Presidential Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory, which he completed in May of 2013. While at Berklee and NEC, he studied with such jazz greats as Fred Hersch, Jerry Bergonzi, Joanne Brackeen, Jason Moran, Phil Wilson and Hal Crook among others.
Jiri has appeared at major music festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Beantown Jazz Festival and San Jose Jazz Festival. He has performed at numerous venues and concert halls worldwide, including Jordan Hall, Berklee Performance Center, Smalls, ShapeShifter Lab, Jazz Dock, Regattabar, Scullers Jazz Club and Wally’s Jazz Club, among others. Jiri has collaborated with Grammy award-winner Terri Lyne Carrington, jazz luminary Hal Crook and Grammy nominee Donna McElroy. He has also made multiple recordings with renowned artists Gabrielle Goodman, Albino Mbie, Jeannie Gagne, Nadia Washington, and others. His recording with vocalist Yvonne Sanchez, My Garden, was nominated for Album of the Year and Jazz Record of the Year in the Czech Republic.
Currently, Jiri is an active performer, accompanist, and teacher throughout the New England. He is a highly sought-after pianist, keyboardist, and arranger who blends jazz, classical, R&B, and gospel into his own personal musical language.
Charlie Jennsion
Saxophonist, Pianist, Multi-Instrumentalist
Charlie Jennison is a talented New Hampshire-based musician. Charlie Jennison began his jazz career in 1961 playing while still in junior high school. Moving to New Hampshire from Florida, he formed a jazz combo at the University of New Hampshire from which he graduated in 1969 with a degree in Music Education. Jennison has studied with such major jazz figures as Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Mariano. The defining moment in Jennison’s career came early when he met pianist Tom Gallant, a teacher at the Berklee School of Music and an alumnus of Woody Herman’s band. Jennison played with Gallant for more than 30 years until his passing in 1998.
Charlie has also shared the stage or has recorded with such notable jazz musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Alan Dawson, and Marshal Royal. He recalls Gillespie confirming that it was really Jonah Jones, not him, who threw the infamous spitball at Cab Calloway, which led to Gillespie’s tumultuous dismissal from Calloway’s band.
Jennison has also been on several albums including with vocalists Kathleen Kolman and Leila Percy, Jazz trumpet legend, Clark Terry, as well as with the World Fusion music groups, Do’a World Music Ensemble, Unu Mondo and Beyond Borders. In 1999, Jennison released his first album for Maine’s Invisible Music label titled Iridescence, which features Jennison’s tenor and soprano saxophone. In a quartet format, the album’s play list is comprised of ten Jennison originals, which run the tempo gamut from ballads to upbeat jazz originals. In addition to recording projects, Jennison currently holds the position of instructor of saxophone and jazz piano at Phillip Exeter Academy in New Hampshire . Charlie Jennison is a featured performer with Do’a World Music Ensemble on the albums, Companions and World Dance and on the UNU MONDO album release, Hand In Hand. His sublime performance on the song, There’s Always Hope is a highlight on the album, Beyond Borders produced by Randy Armstrong & Volker Nahrmann.
Visit Charlie Jennison’s Website
Nick Phaneuf
Guitarist, Mult-Instrumentalist
Guitarist/Multi-Instrumentalist Nick Phaneuf performs throughout the East Coast with the bands Soggy Po Boys, NOVEL / NOVELLA with vocalist Taylor O’Donnell, Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club, Tan Vampires and fiveighthirteen. He has taught at the Portsmouth Music & Arts Center (PMAC ) since 2008 as a private instructor, music technology teacher and co-director of the PMAC rock band program. He has also taught music technology as an adjunct faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy. He displayed his music technology skills and genius on the recording of the album, Beyond Borders as a recording engineer & tech wizard. Nick lives in beautiful Barrington, NH with his wife Michaela, and his son Winter.
Taylor O’Donnell
Vocalist
Taylor O’Donnell is known for her exploratory use of vocal color and texture, and sincere delivery in her musical stylings, Taylor O’Donnell is a contemporary vocalist, educator, and conductor who uses her roots in R&B, folk, jazz, rock, and classical music to communicate her musical dialogue. Growing up in Colorado and living all over the country from Florida to Maine, her performing experience has taken her from playing with her own jazz trio on cruise ships and throughout New England to performing as a guest artist with symphony orchestras. Her musical diversity informs her deep love for vocal improvisation and for exploring a plethora of sounds and colors to connect more deeply to her audience. She has a M. Mus. from the University of Miami and Bachelor’s in Music from Western Michigan University.
Career Highlights
• Lead vocalist for the retro-soul band Mother Superior and the Sliding Royales
• Vocalist, songwriter, and keyboard player for the electronica trio Novel/Novella
• Soprano vocalist and pianist for the Vintage Vocal Quartet
• Appears on jazz trumpet player Chris Klaxton’s albums, Starcode and Collage
• Appearances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City
• Appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, working with producer David Foster
• Member of the Seacoast Jazz Society advisory board from 2017 until 2019
• Studied with Phil Mattson, Diana Spradling, Duane Davis, Steve Zegree, and Terence Blanchard
• Performances alongside artists Donny McCaslin, Dave Douglas, Lyle Mays, Fred Hersch, and Jed Wilson
Visit Taylor O’Donnell’s Website
Henrique De Almeida
Drummer
Henrique De Almeida is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music, Professor Henrique De Almeida holds a M.Mus. Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS, and is a graduate of The Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he majored in jazz composition. He is the leader of his own group, The Brazilian Jazz Project. A published author and producer/composer, he has educational materials available on Carl Fischer Publishing. He writes articles for Modern Drummer Magazine and has performed at PASIC convention and numerous Jazz Festivals around the world.
Henrique has worked with some of the biggest names in the TV industry, such as HBO and commercial world, and wrote original music for a TV campaign with Victoria Secret top models and Australian David Jones Department stores. He also recorded and toured nationally and internationally with The USAFA jazz big band The Falconaires and The USAFA rock band Blue Steel. Henrique has performed several times at Carnegie Hall. Henrique has performed for The President of the United States, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense. He has toured, recorded, and/or worked with: Gloria Estefan, Nat Adderley, Bill Cosby, Antonio Hart, Christopher Holiday, Donny McCaslin, Chris Speed, Igor Butman, Dave Valentin, Scotty Barnhart, Tiger Okoshy, Larry Coryell, Jeff Berlin, Stanton Moore, Billy Cobham, Nelson Rangel, Jeff Narell, Ira Sullivan, Victor Mendoza, Danilo Perez, Phil Wilson, Baron Brown, Matt Garrison, Bill Summers, Hilton Ruiz, Betty Carter, Willie Williams, Nando Lauria, (from The Pat Metheny Group) Brazilian Pop Stars: Alceu Valenca, Gilberto Gill, Raul De Souza, Luiz Gonzaga, Hermeto Paschoal, Brian Lynch, Ronnie Matthews, David Williams, Luciana Souza, Katy Webster, and Oscar Kartaia, Unu Mondo & Beyond Borders featuring Randy Armstrong & Volker Nahrmann, among others.
Henrique is a clinician for Yamaha Drums, LP Percussion, Vic Firth Sticks, Paiste Cymbals, HQ Pads, Evans Drumheads and Earthworks Microphones.
Visit Herique De Almeida Profile
Marty Quinn
Drummer, Tabla Player, Percussionist, Vocalist
Marty Quinn is a guest performer with Beyond Borders with Randy Armstrong & Volker Nahrmann, the Randy Armstrong Duo & Trio and Randy Armstrong & WorldBeat Marimba. Marty has performed, recorded and/or toured with Pat Martino (Warner Bros.), Darius Brubeck, Randy Armstrong and Do’a World Music Ensemble (Global Pacific/Columbia), Visant Rai (Vanguard), The Funky Divas of Gospel and Rock My Soul Gospel Choirs, various Broadway Show tours, and original music, drama, and dance productions The Magic Bird and The Seven Valleys with his wife, Dr. Wendy Quinn (quinnarts.com). He is the founder of Design Rhythmics Sonification Research Lab that specializes in transforming data into music and has collaborated with scientists at the Venice Marine Institute, the Climate Change Research Center and Space Plasma Group of the University of New Hampshire, and the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona. Marty has studied with Jim Chapin on drums, and Jeannie Deva (Voice Studio Boston) for voice and has developed innovative teaching methods including the experiential Drumming Extravaganza for group drum set instruction and the Inspiration Code Vocal Training workshops.
Namory Keita
African Djembe
Master Drummer Namory Keita was born in 1982 in the village of Sangbarala, Guinea. At age 7 he began drumming, becoming the lead drummer for his village in 2006. Members of his family are well-known drummers. His brothers, Solo Keita, living in Japan, and Nansady Keita, in England, grew up drumming with Namory under the tutelage of his uncle, Famoudou Konate, one of the most famous West African drummers in the world. Namory recorded his first CD in 2010 named Kolafolo meaning the ‘Beginning of Everything’. He is a featured artist on recordings by Solo Keita, Billy Konate and Diarra Konate to name a few.
As an international teacher and performing artist, Namory has been invited to many places to share his culture including Germany, Poland, France, Canada, and Portugal. Since coming to America in 2010, he has played with Famoudou Konate, Mamady Keita, Bolokada Conde, Moussa Traore, Mamady Kourouma and the list goes on. Namory plays for the world renowned West African dance teacher Youssouf Koumbassa, the Kouraba Festival in Canada, Cirque Zuma Zuma, ILAP, and many other noted musicians and venues throughout New England and the US and abroad.
Namory is a Master Drummer of Guinea style djembe and dunun drums, a teacher and performer with a unique style and a wealth of traditional knowledge very rare to find outside the villages of Guinea.
Ben Cook
Pianist, Keyboards
Ben Cook has performed for the Boston Pops Orchestra and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra at Symphony Hall and on tour throughout the United States. Since first working for the BPO and BPEO in 2003, I have performed over 100 times at Boston Symphony Hall, the Hatch Shell at the Esplanade, the Tanglewood Music Festival, and on several national tours, working with conductors Keith Lockhart and John Williams and backing such diverse artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Melissa Etheridge, Kenny Loggins, Carly Simon, Tom Morello, Donna McKechnie, Jim Belushi, the Dropkick Murphys, Tom Scholz, Train, Chris Isaak, Joey McIntyre, Emmy Rossum, Melinda Doolittle, Katharine McPhee, Ayla Brown, and others. Material performed with these orchestras has ranged from pop songs to jazz to the symphonic repertoire of Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, John Williams, Ralph Vaughan-Williams, John Alden Carpenter, and Morton Gould, among others. Recently, Ben performed the soloistic piano part on John Williams’ Grammy-award winning “The Book Thief” at Tanglewood with Maestro Williams conducting, and he was featured on the Pops’ 2015 Florida tour soloing on Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing”. In March 2015, Ben performed with the Pops brass section and noted Broadway vocalist Brian Stokes Mitchell at the opening of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for President Obama and other dignitaries. Also, in December 2015, he recorded a live performance with the orchestra that was broadcast nationally on PBS in December 2016.
Ben Cook has recorded numerous times with jazz artists such as Miles Donahue, Fred Buda, Cassandre McKinley, and Crosscurrent and worked as a New England area pit orchestra musician for numerous Broadway shows, including Wicked, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, and dozens of others. Ben is an adjunct faculty member at Brandeis University and summer program instructor at Berklee College of Music.
Bertram Lehmann
Drummer, Percussionist
Drummer/Percussionist Bertram Lehmann is a sought-after player within a multitude of musical contexts in the New England region and beyond, primarily performing jazz, Latin, and world music. A Berklee faculty member since 2004, he is active in the Percussion, Ear Training, and Liberal Arts departments of the college. Equally in demand as a drummer as well as a percussionist, he continues to draw on his extensive instrumental experience and background as both a performer and a scholar of a wide array of musical genres and styles. Rooted in solid initial orchestral percussion training and his first professional exposures, he quickly expanded into jazz and other contemporary genres, and since then has become one of the top experts on Caribbean and South American drum set practice, as well as other traditions from the African diaspora and also Africa, India, and the Mediterranean.
Career Highlights
• Appearances and/or recordings with artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anat Cohen, and Antonio Sanchez, among others, and international tours in Russia, India, Bermuda, South Korea, and the British Virgin Islands, among others
• Over 60 recordings, including recent releases with the Klaus Spencker Trio on Crossing Borders, Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble on The Lullaby Project and The New Immigrant Experience, IMAGINE 5’s self-titled debut, and Ian Ethan’s Earth Suite, among others
• Performances worldwide include shows at Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; Symphony Hall and the Boston Globe Jazz Festival in Boston; the Chicago World Music Festival; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; and the Hannover Jazz Week in Germany
• Worked with the quintet of Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza; the Afro-Latin supergroup Mango Blue; the idiosyncratic Indo-Jazz ensemble Natraj; vocalists like Rebecca Parris and Mili Bermejo; Unu Mondo featuring Randy Armstrong & Volker Nahrmann; and vibist Victor Mendoza, among many others
• Presented clinics/workshops at the University of Bremen (Germany), Fundacio L’Aula de Musica (Spain), the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Boston campuses, Five Towns College, and Longy School of Music, among many others
• Ethnomusicological presentations on Afro-diasporic rhythmic syntax at the Second International Symposium on the Music of Africa at Princeton University (2005) and the Third International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Music at SOAS University of London (2014)
• Endorsements include Aquarian drumheads; Vic Firth drum sticks; Murat Diril cymbals; DEM’Sticks specialty rods, fans, and brooms; and Black Swamp Percussion and Dynamicx snares
• Panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts 2017 grant application review process
Visit Bertram Lehmann’s Profile
Black Thunder Singers
Northern Tradition Native American Singers, Drum & Dance
Black Thunder Singers are a Northern Traditional Native American drum located in New England. Black Thunder started in 2001, performing on the New England Pow Wow trail. We sing the songs of the Black Hills and the Great Lakes.
Every singer is also a dancer. We understand how important the drum is to the dancers, and how important the dancers are to the drum. We try to live in a traditional way, and just not at Pow Wow.
The song, White Cloud Black Thunder performed on Beyond Borders is a World Fusion song composed by Volker Nahrmann featuring Randy Armstrong on Lakota Courting Flute, guitars, percussion; Volker Nahrmann on Acoustic Bass, Keyboards, Percussion; Ken Gable on Alto Sax with the Black Thunder Singers. Produced and Recorded at Beauty Hill Recording Studios in Barrington, New Hampshire and engineered by Nicholas Phaneuf. A joyful and uplifting expression of cross-cultural music merging the genres of jazz, Native American drumming and singing traditions, old school hip-hop rhythms, 2/3 clave with groove oriented sensibilities.
Artist Statement by Ernest Proper and the Black Thunder Singers:
The Drum is the heartbeat of Mother earth and the voices carry the Mother’s spirit through the generations. The songs are not owned, but belong to the people. Those that are chosen to sing the songs have the responsibility to carry on the traditions as taught by our elders.
Ernie Proper began teaching the songs to his sons and hunka in 1999. Ernie sang with several other northern drums and was a fancy dancer, and later a northern traditional dancer over the years. The original five singers were all dancers before they started singing.
Before long, Black Thunder Singers were in high demand for pow wows on the east coast. Black Thunder added several singers, including the ladies, over the years, but remained true to the traditions as taught by the elders. All of the singers are of multicultural heritage, but choose to follow the old traditions in their daily lives. Black Thunder Singers do not believe in making a profit for singing or dancing. The songs belong to the people. Any profits beyond expenses are donated to charity. This is a good way to give back to the people.
Visit the Black Thunder Singers Profile
Shamou
Percussionist, Composer, Vocalist
In Memoriam: February 29, 1960 – September 9, 2024
Shamou is Director of Music for Dance at UNC Charlotte. Shamou’s music career began in his native Iran where he also studied and performed with the Iranian National Ballet as a dancer. He began his formal music training in Tehran, studied with teachers from the Royal College of Music in London, and completed his training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, earning a Bachelors of Music Degree.
He is known for his collaborative work with the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co., Mark Morris Dance Company, ODC /San Francisco, San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, David Dorfman Dance, Boston Dance Collective and Prometheus Dance Company among others. As a composer he has created original scores for numerous Companies/Choreographers, including Claudia Lavista (Co-Artistic Director, Delfos Danza Contemporanea), FJK Dance, NY2 Dance, Sacramento Ballet, ODC Dance Jam, Prometheus Dance Company, Stephan Koplowitz, Robert Moses, Judith Smith/AXIS, and many others during residencies at the Bates Dance Festival. He has collaborated with emerging African choreographer’s during a choreographer’s workshop at Ecole des Sables, in Senegal. He has created scores for Christal Brown’s Liquid Strength training video project and Cathy Young’s Jazz Pedagogy project.
His compositions for dance and theater have been presented in Europe, Africa, China, and Mexico. In the United States, his work has been showcased at National Performers Network, performed and presented at the North Western University, Marymount Manhattan College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, UNC Charlotte, as well as Portland Stage, BAM, Baryshnikov Art Center, and Fools Fury Festival. Since 1990 he has taught hand drumming, percussion, music for dance and body music across the country and abroad in a wide variety of settings, at Harvard and Boston Universities, Bates, Bowdoin and Wellesley Colleges, as well as festivals, including the Bates Dance Festival, National and Regional High School Dance Festivals. He has been a member of the Maine Arts Commission’s Artist Access Program and the New England States Touring Roster of the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Shamou recorded on the 2015 album, BEYOND BORDERS with Volker Nahrmann & Randy Armstrong and performed in the Randy Armstrong World Fusion Ensemble in New England. He has contributed music to numerous CD compilations and has released his own solo CDs entitled Spirits Dance, Traces, Nebulae, and Shodjah with his former band by the same name, and Live at CCE with his latest ensemble Loopin’.