Monette Marino began drumming in 1976 at the age of 9 when her father initiated her on his sparkle blue Ludwig drum set. For five years she spent most of her time after school in the garage learning from her father and playing along to the radio. But in 1981 her father gave her a lesson on the congas and it was at that moment that she fell in love with the skin on skin contact and began to immerse herself into the world of hand drumming and percussion.
After spending three years in Florence, Italy, Monette returned to her home town, San Diego, where she graduated from UCSD in 1994 with a B.A. in Studio Art and Italian Studies. It was during her last quarter at UCSD that she met Yaya Diallo from Mali and began to study traditional West African drumming. In addition, she was introduced to traditional Korean drumming by Master Drummer Kim Duk Soo, Founder/Director of Samul Nori , who was invited to UCSD to complete a week-long teaching residency. Monette attended classes for 6 hours per day and was selected to lead the final performance. At the end of the residency, Kim Duk Soo invited her to attend their World Music Festival in Seoul, S. Korea in 1995 and to compete in a Kyorugi, a traditional Korean drum competition, for which she would return to Seoul in 1997 and 1999.
Also in those last few months at UCSD, she met composer and musician Semisi Mau, originally from Tonga. Semisi encouraged Monette to apply her skills in a live band and asked her to be a member of his group Semisi and Fula Bula (which translates to Semisi and a Big Hello). Semisis music was the perfect blend of his native South Pacific island grooves with a little reggae, blues, rock and even latin spice. This was Monette’s first outlet for her reservoir of skill and knowledge that had accumulated over the last 15 years and, unbeknownst to her at the time, this would be the beginning of her professional career in music.
It was shortly after her graduation in 1994, and after a few months of shows with Semisi, that Monette realized that she was not destined for a career in Art, but a career in music. She spent two weeks in Tijuana, Mexico where she studied with Cuban percussionists Angel Bolanos, Julio Guerra and Mario Jauregui. It was at this time that she began her training on the Bata drums as well as in the dances and songs of the Orishas. She continued her studies with local drummers Gary Greenberg and Mark Lamson as well as Cuban Master Regino Jimenez.
In 1995, she founded a California Non-Profit Corporation, Baraka Internatioal Arts, to support and foster interest in multi-ethnic drum and dance. She began teaching weekly percussion classes at this time, focusing on Cuban and West African rhythms, and brought dozens of master artists to San Diego from around the world to teach and perform. This same year Monette joined the San Diego-based Brazilian batucada band Sol e Mar directed by acclaimed percussionist and recording artist Mark Lamson. In 1996 she joined Mark Lamsons Afro-Cuban folkloric ensemble Afrikete where she was percussionist, dancer and singer. It was in November of 1996 that she made her first trip to Havana, Cuba to study more intensely the folkloric rhythms, songs and dances in the Afro-Cuban tradition.
In September of 1996, just one month before her trip to Cuba, Monette met Master Drummer Mamady Keita from Guinea, West Africa when she and Baraka International Arts sponsored him to come teach a series of djembe classes in San Diego. Four months later, in January of 1997, Monette made a one-month trip to Guinea to study with Mamady Keita and began her true apprenticeship into the percussion of the Manding. After three years of intensive studies with Mr. Keita, she received a Certficate from his school of percussion, Tam Tam Mandingue. In recognition of her knowledge and skill in traditional Manding percussion, Monette was then given permission by Mr. Keita to open the 11th branch of his school Tam Tam Mandingue.
In 2001, Monette won the National Hand Drum-Off competition at Drum Day LA, sponsored by the Guitar Center. Participants competed all over the country and three finalist were chosen from New York, Miami and Los Angeles to perform at the House of Blues in Hollywood.
In 2005, Monette married her teacher Mamady Keita and though they officially live in San Diego, they spend most of their time traveling around the world teaching Manding percussion. You can see their schedule listed in the Calendar on www.mamadykeita.com.
Monette has explored many drumming systems from around the world and has a deep respect for the cultural heritage preserved and passed on through the language of the drum. She has played and recorded with many artists in San Diego and Los Angeles, and when she is not touring with husband Mamady Keita, she can be found teaching at TTM USA and drumming for various African and Afro-Cuban dance classes in San Diego.