Go to my website:
WWW.MICHAPATRIMUSIC.COM
email me at
[email protected] "Nur" Patri is regarded as one of the most versatile drummers
in the Bay Area, and is noted for his taste and feel, touch and dynamics,
flexibility and supporting ability, and intensity and emotional fire.
Micha graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory
in 1999, where he apprenticed with jazz drummers Greg Bandy, Michael
Carvin, Joe Morello, and Dennis Mackrel. He studied intensive music
theory, history, performance, composition and arranging with composer
and educator Dr. Wendell Logan.
Micha has performed with musicians of note such as trumpeters Clark Terry,
Mike Mossman, Marcus Belgrave, Matt Schulman, and Greg Glassman;
bassists Jamil Nasser, Lamar Gaines, and John Evans; pianists Harold Mabern, Muhal Richard Abrams, Neal Creque, and Dave Matthews; saxophonists James Moody and Donald Walden; flautist James Newton; guitarists Bobby Ferrazza, John Schott, and Shelley Doty; and vocalists Jane Monheit, Vanessa Rubin, Jacqui
Naylor, Spencer Day and Pyeng Threadgill.
Micha studied African diaspora drumming with percussionist Adetobi Greg Jackson
and dancer Adenike Miriam Sharpley from 1994-1999 and performed with both.
He studied classical snare drum with Michael Rosen and performed with the
award-winning Oberlin Jazz Ensemble
Micha is on the faculty at the San Francisco Community Music Center teaching
drumset, percussion, and band.He performs storytelling and junk drumming frequently to at-risk youth groups
in schools and institutions, often in affiliation with Bread and Roses.
Micha has recently performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Sculler's Jazz Club
in Boston, The Triple Door in Seattle, Birdland on New York; San Francisco's
Plush Room, Great American Music Hall, Boom Boom Room; and the North Beach and Fillmore Jazz Festivals.
He currently studies voice with Rita Sahai, Andrea Fultz and Pyeng Threadgill.
In his work with community circle, Micha brings an assortment of percussion
instruments to any group, be it children, recovering addicts, social workers
or teachers, and creates an atmosphere of warmth and freedom. All in one
workshop, he seeks to draw out the musician and the artist in you, the child
in you and the soul of you. Feelings are welcomed and encouraged, and
excercises are specifically designed to enhance people's awareness of the
world of sound. Participants are invited to listen to mythic stories, and sing,
clap, move, and play percussion with a focus on lifting the spirit and releasing
suffering. Drumming is based on specific knowledge of musical traditions from
different parts of the world, including Brazil, Africa, North America(Jazz, Blues
and Native American), Haiti, Trinidad, and Cuba. Singing is accessible and
optional.
Micha Patri has formed his own project, the... Wailing Junk Symphony for the
Most High, a "world music garage big band" performing Micha's original
compositions over a literal fusion of traditional West African and Brazilian
rhythms and dance, jazz and reggae vocals and harmony, and a general junk
aesthetic. In addition to original material, the band performs Micha's arrangements
of John Coltrane, Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott and Thelonius Monk.
The music is dubbed "Brazilian/West-African, Gospel Junk-Jazz."
These are the Wailing Junk Disciples: brother Nur(Micha) on drumset, percussion,
vibes, and vocals; brother Juju(Julius Leonard) on junk percussion; brother Isha
(Jesus Martinez) on Brazilian percussion; brother Ibrahim(Mike Abraham) on gutar,
sister Meta(Lisa Mezzacappa) on bass; brother Hanuman(Henry Hung) on trumpet,;
brother Pitta(Zack Pitt-Smith) on saxes, flute and Brazilian percussion; Die
Seelische(Andrea Fultz) on vocals; sister Phoenix(Pyeng Threadgill) on vocals;
brother Mohamed(Mohamed Kouyate) on West African percussion; sister Bodhi
Ma(Elizabeth Lund) performing dance; and sister Durga Ma(Jessica Ezra)
performing dance.
The group employs low-income teens to do flyering and ticket sales, and every performance involves the community in special ways such as discussion,
collective junk drumming, and support for special causes.
Micha is available for private lessons and group lessons, in drumming or general
musicianship, band workshops, weddings, private parties, club dates, drum
clinics, storytelling, percussion circle songs, and music for yoga and ritual.
