Lee Fairbanks

Lee started out as a child, and hasn't changed much since in attitude and behavior.  He's been studying West African music with Carl Nickerson since 2001.  Within hailing distance of middle age, this is the first serious music study of his life.  He also enjoys performing with KULU, Carl's class group, and teaches a little djembe himself.  Likes running, eating, NASCAR racing, the outdoors.  Goals:  retirement, trip to Guinea, world peace, successfully playing kenkeni part for Sorsornet.  Loves:  Annie

...an African drumming

    experience in New Hampshire

Foté

The Musicians

Currently Foté is comprised of 6 slackers.  Though we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we thought you might want to know a little about us... for some reason.

Carl Nickerson

Carl has been drumming in one form or another since birth. He discovered West African music with Scott in the mid 90's and hasn't been the same since. His strongest influences are Mamady Keita, Uri Cane, Elliott Carter & Frank Zappa. He is most often found hanging out at Biddy Mulligans in Dover, at the Wednesday open mic. Carl teaches Malinké drumming classes at Karaya Dance Studio in Rollinsford, NH, Performs with his students’ band Kulu, runs drum circles with Scott through Bada-bidi-bop and can be heard on a small handful of locally produced CD's. Likes include poly-rhythms, Yankadi-Makru, and cats. Dislikes bad drivers, student loans, and writing bio's.

E-mail: calamari555@yahoo.com

Scott Jarvis

Scott's introduction to drumming in 1995 sent him down various paths that eventually led to involvement with Foté.  His love for traditional West African rhythms and technique prompted him to study with Master Djembefola Mamady Keita in Belgium and The Republic of Guinea for 6 months.  He has also taken workshops on "drum circle facilitation" with Arthur Hull. Likes include blind cats.  Dislikes include Fanga.  See Scott's homepage

Brian Cronin

Brian, on an infinite quest to uncover the mother of funk, began studying West African Percussion in the summer of 2000 . Since that time he has had the pleasure of attending many workshops with the likes of Mamady Keita, Famoudou Konaté, Moussa Traore, and Abdoulaye Sylla. Likes include the downbeat, the upbeat, the “and”, rhythms in 9/8, and the Kenkeni part to Wassalonka. Dislikes include country music and canned vegetables. Favorite musical experiences include playing for dancers at the “Sweat”, holding on to my coat-strings while backing up Moussa on the dununs, and playing First Night!  Brian also has a mini-fote’ at home, 4 year old Braeden, whom often makes guest appearances at our gigs.  Stay tuned…

Allen Williams

This guy didn’t get me his bio, so I’m gonna’ make stuff up:

Allen was born on the Mississippi Bayou, straight into the mouth of a swamp gator.  Disapproving of the taste and knowing that this child was meant for special things, the gator quickly spat the baby Allen out.  He shot out of the mouth of that reptile so fast that soon he was at an altitude of 10,000ft.  He showed no fear as he quickly fashioned a parachute from tropospheric ozone and umbilical cord, and landed softly on pile of scrap metal.  Here, he sat for 42 days turning junk into priceless art and jewelry.  On the 43rd day, he wandered away from his scrap pile and found music.  Likes: Precious Moments figurines. Dislikes: Writing Bio’s.

John Marlowe

John has been a steering wheel drummer much of his life and extended it to West African style drumming in 2004 under the tutelage of Carl.  He has attended workshops with Mamady Keita and Moussa Troare, among others. Recently he has been spotted throwing in dununba variations at Biddy's. When not drumming he teaches third graders in Portsmouth, NH.  Other interests include tennis, mountaineering and photography.  His favorite musical experience to date has been jamming on Portsmouth's Market Square Day as a member of Kulu. His current goal is to learn all the breaks for Zaoli - okay, half of them. His latest rants are about abandoned cigarette butts on the side of the road and the people who throw them there.

E-mail: sjarvis@plymouth.edu