Elijah Ray, Toby Christensen, Hazar Courson, Tiffany Tatum and John Dumas

Greetings from the island of Kauai!

I’m having an awesome time here on the island. One of the treasures of Kauai is the number of healers and spiritually-connected people that live here. It seems everywhere you go, you meet open hearts, smiles, and hear “Aloha!”

The vibe of the island is old and sacred. Last week I had the pleasure of doing a concert with some of the amazing beings on the assignment. All of us are dedicated to the practice of sound healing. It was truly a night of miracles, healing, and tremendous spiritual expansion. My co-conspirators were Elijah Ray, Tiffany Tatum, Hazar Courson, and John Dumas. I have played with Elijah before but never the other three. What a pleasure!

As we began, Hazar lead the group in an exercise helping them to connect to their own ability to create sound and open their energy. As she finished her exercise, John took over with his flute and didgeridoo and brought the crowd to an all-new height. This led Tiffany into a beautiful chant, and other percussive instruments to rally the energy of Elijah, who in turn did a beautiful job of looping track after track after track, creating a choir-like angelic feeling to the room. He got a rhythm going and gave me the nod, prompting me to get the djembe started. And for the next hour the room was rock steady: each person shining their light in the world, being featured doing vocal solos, didgeridoo solos, flute solos, and Elijah rocked it out on the djembe with me. What an amazing time!

Hazar and Tiffany do some beautiful toning while the guys lay down the rhythm track!

As you can see in the picture, the drumming was strenuous. My shirt is completely soaked! What a time! We had the place rock’n and rolling: people were dancing, laying down on the floor, and receiving healings. Danny Hashimoto came in and was delivering his magic cacao! It was truly an evening of magic. I have never worked with such skilled vocalists.

It was amazing to hear the variety of sounds that came from these women. The beautiful angelic soft multi-harmony tones, combined with piercing sounds that were definitely “otherworldly.” Hazar is on the left and Tiffany on the right with the painted face. There was a girl by the name of Rose in the audience who is a masterful body painter. So Tiffany—along with many of the other participants in the audience—had beautifully painted faces and images painted on their bodies. It was quite amazing. Everybody brings their gift in a different way, and it is all very valuable.

John Dumas with Elijah Ray in the background

At one time, some of our setup crew had to remove chairs to make enough room for everyone to dance. There was one moment when John, Elijah, and I were playing so vigorously, I thought we might set off a fire alarm! Then the energy would settle down and these beautiful tones would float through the air supported by the rhythm of the drum and the drone of the didgeridoo. It was as though we all had a conductor that was leading the orchestra, yet every moment was free-flowing magic.

Sometimes John plays the flute, and sometimes the didgeridoo. He also happens to be a very accomplished percussionist. The melodies of the flute were haunting. The drone of the digital was powerful and earthy. It was a night of great beauty.

Stay tuned for more information about this concert and other events I experience here on the island. I want to thank my colleagues for joining me on the stage this beautiful night. Thank you for bringing your gifts to the world and I look forward to playing with you all again!

The final track on my sound healing album, Tribal Medicine, is “Celebration Dance.” The album features different healing energies with each track, and this one is one of which I’ve been getting a lot of positive reviews. The intention behind Tribal Medicine was to offer listeners an opportunity to heal their hearts and souls through the rhythmic power of the drum, and this is definitely achieved with “Celebration Dance!”

Celebration Dance

“Celebration Dance” is an up-tempo, fun, shake-it-loose type of song. We all need to lose ourselves in music like this—not just every once in a while but often! “Celebration Dance” is a song I encourage you to play while giving thanks. Its rhythms complement nicely the gratitude we express when the ancestors and spirits respond to our requests and bring to us the things for which we’ve asked.

As you know, I am always encouraging people to be thankful! As we focus on being grateful for what we have, we invite more good things to come our way. “Celebration Dance” is a song of proclamation that our lives are full of good things.

Over the past few weeks I’ve talked about each track on Tribal Medicine. This CD features healing rhythms that are intended to restore listeners’ hearts and souls as the sensations of the healing drum infuses the body. Each of the five tracks engage different energies that create different healing experiences.

This is due to the album’s strong roots with tribal connections. Listening to Tribal Medicine is like partaking in an ancient indigenous ceremony where the wisdom of African, Native American, and Eastern shamanic healing traditions take over the listeners’ body and restore health and vitality through the beating of the drums!

Tribal Medicine features me, Healing Drummer Toby Christensen, on djembe drum and percussion, and the talented Rebecca Holt on vocal toning. Skilled artist Carolina Woodrich shared her stunning original artwork for the album!

To purchase a copy of this healing rhythms CD, please visit my shop. I invite you to engage your body, mind, and soul with the powerful rhythms of Tribal Medicine. Enjoy!

Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing with you inside looks at each track from my new CD Tribal Medicine. Tribal Medicine is one of my favorite albums to date. It offers listeners restorative healing rhythms to infuse their hearts and souls. Each track on the album features intoxicating drumming, various sounds, and specific intent that embodies different healing energies. By creating a varying, yet powerful, healing album like this, I’m proud to offer listeners a rejuvenating sound energy session.

I’ve talked about the energetic and spiritual rhythms of “Call of the Ancestors,” the indigenous conversation of “Tribal Spirits,” and the transforming healing energy of “Sacred Chant.” The next track I’d like to discuss is the he fourth from Tribal Medicine called “The One.” 

I’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this song. This is a soundtrack for being in the presence of the one who heals us all and who can guide us to overcome any obstacle. “The One” is about being in the presence of the Creator and accepting our life circumstances for what they are, no matter what they are.

“The One” is also a form of spiritual guidance that encourages us to ask for the eradication of things from our lives that are not helpful. It’s a great song by which to meditate and ask for peace in the place where we are carrying turmoil, for health and wellbeing in the place where we carry illness, and for abundance in the place where we carry emptiness.

Tribal Medicine offers listeners powerful inspiration through its tribal connections—as so many responses from people have indicated. This album as a whole resembles closely an ancient indigenous healing ceremony. All listeners have to do to experience the wisdom and powerful healing of African and Native American ancestors and shamans is bring positive intent, an open heart and mind, and close their eyes for the great escape of Tribal Medicine!

Tribal Medicine features me, Healing Drummer Toby Christensen, on djembe drum and percussion, and the talented Rebecca Holt on vocal toning. Skilled artist Carolina Woodrich shared her stunning original artwork for the album!

To purchase a copy of this healing rhythms CD, please visit my shop. I invite you to engage your body, mind, and soul with the powerful rhythms of Tribal Medicine. Enjoy!

Those who have already listened to my new album Tribal Medicine can attest to its powerful inspiration through its tribal connections. So many reviews have been coming back to me, and one common remark is that listeners often feel as though they are taking part in an ancient indigenous healing ceremony! Tribal Medicine is a great escape for those who wish to close their eyes and experience the wisdom of African and Native American ancestors, as well as experience Eastern shamanic traditions through the powerful healing rhythms of the album’s songs!

For instance, “Sacred Chant,” the third track on the album, is about the vision of a medicine person residing in solitude on the top of a mountain, calling to the healing spirits. It’s a truly beautiful song that was written with those in mind who are suffering and are in need of some sort of healing—be it from a serious or debilitating illness, the crushing and despondent force of depression, or any other mental or spiritual malady.

“Sacred Chant” is a healing song in which the medicine person calls to the spirits through sacred chant. These calls are requests for healing and comfort for those in pain, and to restore health and vitality to those in need of a transformation.

Tribal Medicine as a complete album offers healing rhythms that restore the hearts and souls of those who listen. I am quite proud of how this album turned out—the drumming is incredible and infuses the body with its intoxicating rhythms. While “Sacred Chant” is just one of five powerful tracks on the album, each song embodies a different healing energy. Through various rhythms, sounds, and intent, individual tracks offer listeners different sound energy sessions. As a whole,Tribal Medicine is a restorative treat!

Tribal Medicine features me, Healing Drummer Toby Christensen, on djembe drum and percussion, and the talented Rebecca Holt on vocal toning. Skilled artist Carolina Woodrich shared her stunning original artwork for the album!

To purchase a copy of this healing rhythms CD, please visit my shop. I invite you to engage your body, mind, and soul with the powerful rhythms of Tribal Medicine. Enjoy!

I am pleased to present Homecoming, a celebration of dance and joy.

Inspiration for my LP Homecoming came following a reunion with my dear friend and brother Malidoma Somé. We spent many years separated from one another, walking our separate paths. Our reconnection after all that time sparked great joy in my life, rekindling an energy that remained dormant for years.

Malidoma and I recently traveled to Africa together where we had spent time 15 years ago. It was an amazing trip, full of magic and inspiration. That journey re-established in me a feeling of my indigenous self.

Homecoming is a celebration of the joy Malidoma and I experienced through reconnection. Done in the style of ecstatic dance, the intoxicating rhythms and powerful beats are infused with multiple layers of tribal drums. The intense pace and vibrant energy of Homecoming is reminiscent of my experience drumming under the stars in the beautiful village in Burkina Faso.

I invite you to turn it up loud! Dance, drum, and enjoy!

I’d like to extend a very special thank-you to Tanis Wells for creating the beautiful original artwork for Homecoming. Beautiful job!

Listen here for a sample of Homecoming!

Homecoming

This rhythmic and energetic LP is now available for sale. To purchase Homecoming, please visit my shop.

Supporting AVIELA, Inc.

I’m also excited to announce that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the Homecoming LP are being donated to AVIELA, Inc. a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization founded by Malidoma.

Here’s some information about AVIELA, Inc:

Meaning “It is all good and well intentioned,” in Dagara, AVIELA, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization created to offer us the opportunity to express our gratitude to the West African elders, diviners, healers, and shamans who have been generous with their time, knowledge, and dedication to the ancestors, and to those supporting Malidoma’s work, dedicating their time and energy, often without any compensation or acknowledgement. The work they do for us in the modern world often requires that they take time from doing the work to keep their families fed.

AVIELA provides a container for saying “thank you” in a monetary way. AVIELA allows us to become a greater part of the global village by making a direct contribution to those who contribute so much to the work of spirit. Our dollars become the “loaves and fishes” that feed those who keep alive the connection with the ancestors. All contributions, small and large, make a difference in Africa.

By purchasing this download you are making a contribution that will change the lives of the people of West Africa! Thank you!

This August 17-27, I will be hosting a Hawaiian adventure. This exclusive trip is for a very limited number of people who feel called to swim with Dolphins and the Sea Turtles; those who want to enjoy the sun and hike the sacred mountains of Kauai, Hawaii. We will drum at sunset and perhaps even enjoy some Hawaiian music played by yours truly!! Actually I think we can find some better music than I can offer

Please contact me if you are interested. It will be a very informal setting with several people sharing a house. Camping style sleeping arrangements although there are two bedrooms available for those who require additional privacy. It will be tons of fun in the sun and the places we will go are amazing! So shoot me an email to toby@healingdrummer.com and I’ll give you the details. Base rate is $1,000 for the 10 days and includes breakfast every day and great adventures! I look forward to hearing from you! Toby

This is my favorite song my World Unity CD. It is dedicated to the peace makers. So enjoy the sounds and think of ways you can bring more peace and harmony to the world! As a famous musician once said, Give Peace a chance!

This is a piece from my World Unity CD. It’s a great one to listen to when you feel stuck or low energy.

There is a song called Waltzing Matilda, referred to as “the unofficial national anthem of Australia”. In it is the line, “Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree…

In the same way the coolibah tree was a place of rest and rejuvenation for the swagman, this song has the energy of rejuvenation for you!

Here is your music clip for the month of January.

As many of you have read on the blog, I reunited with some old friends this past year who I used to play music with.

This clip is a remix of track 1 of my Four Doors Open CD. Terry Kingen has laid some beautiful guitar over the drums to balance the intensity of the drum with the melodic flow of the guitar.

This blog is the operations central for the HEALINGDRUMMER WORLD PEACE PARTY that will take place December 20th. For the past three years I have ended every event with a few minutes of DRUMMING FOR PEACE. What I mean by peace is summed up in the statement below. I’m not asking anyone to change their mind or agree with me in every way I only ask that we focus on our similarities so strongly that we have no time to fight about our differences! Check Back for details.

To honor this passionate cause I produced a CD called World Unity. The following are the words on the jacket. The song posted is Wake Up! It is my call for people WAKE UP to PEACE!!!

“This CD is dedicated to the Peacemakers of the world. It is for those who realize that we are held lovingly in the arms of the universe, and that since we are here not only to survive, but to THRIVE together, then we must begin to act with peace and harmony in all that we do. This is to act peace with the air, the water, the land, the animals, and with each and every one of our fellow humans. May we all find through this music the ability to focus on our similarities so strongly that we have no time to fight about our differences! WORLD UNITY is WORLD COMMUNITY”

Let’s make it happen!

It is with this intention I ask you all to join me in a wold wide campaign and join the HEALINGDRUMMER WORLD PEACE PARTY! Stay tuned and enjoy the music. I will post new tracks every 2 weeks!

Peace

Here we have Terry Kingen on the guitar Joel Bisset on the kit and I am on the djembe 

Joel Bisset laying down the steady beat!

I was just in Seattle and met up with a group of guys I have not seen for 30 years. I went to Elementary, Junior High, and High school with these gentlemen. As kids we played music together. We would spend hours in my parents’ basement playing Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and who ever else was on the charts at that time. Guy Johnson was and is today one of the most talented and skilled rock guitar players on the planet. Terry Kingon is a masterful wizard on the guitar masterfully maneuvering his way through any style of music from rockabilly to Frank Zappa! Clearly, Terry is the most musically educated and diverse of the gang. Joel Bissett is one of those guys who is the embodiment of kindness and a true gentleman. He was always ready to help those of us who were up on stage, always picking up tips on playing the drums and guitar. He was never in the spotlight back then but he has become a fine drummer and excellent man on the guitar. And of course I cannot help but mention Paul Dragoo, Paul and I did not meet till High School but became close friends, as we played in bands together during that time in my life. It was through Paul’s continued connection with the other three men that ultimately lead to our reunion.

 
Reconnecting to these men is one of the greatest joys I have experienced in a very long time. Our hair is a little grayer; we all have a bit of age on our bellies. But jamming with these guys made my heart sing. After all these years, we have each held music as our love and passion. I had the opportunity to be on stage with two of them. Joel and Terry. Joel was on the drum kit and Terry was man handling a pink paisley Telecaster. And I was bringing the HealingDrum to a bar in Renton Washington! 

It was such a joy to play with these guys Terry and I could not do anything but SMILE

When in Park City Michael Franti did a great song where he brought the kids in the crowd up on stage. Here is his video of the song. I encourage you all to support Michael’s music!! He is an Extraordinary Peacemaker!