Myspace Layouts by Pimp-My-Profile.com
I am a percussionist. I love it. I play in a band called Más Y Más . I love it. They are here too on myspace!I specialise in Afro Cuban percussion. I play congas, cajon, bongo and udu. I have played professionally as a third of Mas Y Mas for the last nine years. We play original songs written by Rikki Thomas- Martinez and sung in Spanish (his mother tongue) backed up by big bass lines from Wayne D. Evans and solid groove (me). It is original acoustic dance music that you don't need a dance class before hand to enjoy! We have travelled all over the world making people dance and smile. What a great career move!
As a percussionist the music I like playing most is rooted in "Latin" traditions, particularly those from Africa. At first the poly-rhythms of this music especially the folkloric traditions in Cuba appealed to my drummers brain but when I went out to Cuba and heard and felt it for myself, the joy, abandonment and skill with which music is played out there blew me away. It made me realise that it is all about the song, the groove and the commitment. I have never looked back and it changed how I feel about music and how I play.
As well as Afro Cuban music I really like playing with and listening to people who can write their own songs, have something to say and can say it like they mean it.
I have recently been playing with Wayne Evans from Más Y Más and The Last Pedestrians in a duo called "Rich and Famous" . This has been a chance for me to get stuck into playing Bodhrán again. we are playing Waynes songs some of which I will post up here soon so watch out for them! I use the Bodhrán for grooves rather than playing it traditionally and I owe a debt to Cormac Byrne from Uiscedwr for opening my eyes to the possiblities of this instrument. I am currently studying with Ciaran Boyle who plays with Last Nights Fun as well as playing and composing independently. He is a fantastic player of the Bodhrán and a great singer of Irish Traditional Music.
"Rich and Famous" have also developed a trio sound with the addition of The Myphalator . The trio plays a different set of Wayne's songs with a different line up playing music which is more suited to dancing. The trio consists of Wayne on Double Bass, Me on congas, cajon, kick, guiro, woodblock and tambourine and Myph on Electric Guitar.
For me as for many it all started with Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Now I love to listen to anything with genuine soul, honesty and groove. If that groove be country, great, if it be rock, lovely, if it be rumba or changui or bata or bembe, fantastic.
I enjoy playing solid grooves and driving the music of a band. I have chosen to work on this aspect of my playing more than on busting a load of chops. This however I do do from time to time after all I am a drummer!
I am sometimes available for laying down congas, cajon, bodhrán and other percussion on recordings for people. I am particularly interested in layering up percussion parts or playing as part of a section. I haven't got time to join any other bands as Mas Y Mas takes up a lot of time already but I am always up for doing short run or one off gigs or recording sessions.
What I don't like is music that is all about the surface and comes from nowhere other than a desire to be noticed. I hate slack lyrics and ego music as well. Music for me is something that people do together and brings people together and has a function in our lives beyond just sounding good or being clever.
Mas Y Mas have recently played at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak Borneo and The Penang World Music Festival in Penang, Malaysia.
Follow these links for Video and Photos.
Compilation Video
After hours Jamming photos
Ojala video
Mas Y Mas worshop RWMF 2007 video
Richard Kensington Cajon Frenzy video
Pictures of The Penang World Music Festival 2007
I do a lot of teaching as well as playing. I have been running workshops in drumming since 1999 and work with people of all ages and abilities. I particularly enjoy working on projects that have a long life where you can really get to know the people you are working with and get to see progress as people get better.
Groups I am particularly proud to be involved with include Rufford Infants School in Bulwell with whom I have worked for four years and Nottingham Music School where I have also worked for about 4 years. Rufford Infants has just been given the National Status of School of Creativity which is an acknowledgment at a national level of how important creative learning and the arts in general are in our lives.
The following is a video clip from a performance with members of Nottingham Music School Senior World Music Group. I have been teaching this group for the last year and a half and a couple of the group members for longer than that. We have worked on a variety of grooves that originate in Cuba. This film shows some conga parts for "Rumba Guaguanco". Normally the drums would accompany singing and dancing but we don't have any singers or dancers amongst us so we have been concentrating on the drumming!
This was filmed on Nov 22nd 2007 at The Bonnington Theatre in Arnold, Nottingham.
This was filmed on 24th May 2008 at Hockley in Nottingham. The Nottingham Music School Senior World Music Group has now been renamed "Timberos Del Futuro" by Santiago Garzon Rill aka "Chaguito" - my teacher in Havana.