Five-member band will take the stage at the Stiefel Theatre to perform its unique music-a blend of several styles

By Gary Demuth

Salina Journal

When performing with his band Toubab Krewe, percussionist Luke Quaranta takes up a lot of space.

Surrounding him onstage are hand drums, a log drum, a large gourd cut in half and played on a pillow, booming bass drums and even a metal scraper.

These West African-style percussion instruments are essential in creating the band's blend of traditional West African music and hard-driving rock 'n' roll, said Quaranta, who was born and raised in New York City.

He met the four other musicians who comprise Toubab Krewe while all were college students in Asheville, N.C. A mutual love of percussive-based West African instrumental music, rock 'n' roll and hip-hop dance grooves bonded the five fledgling musicians and led to the formation of the band in 2005.

Since then, the group's high-energy live performances have been acclaimed at music festivals worldwide, including the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., and the Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali, in western Africa.

Toubab Krewe will be in concert at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts. The band also will host a free percussion workshop for students and the general public at 2 p.m. that day at the theater.

The Ashville-based group, with Quaranta on percussion, comprises Teal Brown on drums, David Pransky on bass, Justin Perkins on electric guitar, kora (a 21-string harp lute) and kamelengoni (a 12-string harp lute), and Drew Heller on lead guitar and soku (a Malian horsehair fiddle).

"It's a small gourd with animal skin stretched across it, like a fiddle but with a raspy sound," Heller said of his soku.

Heller said his obsession for West African music was inspired by his younger brother, who was taking drum lessons and played him a tape of a percussion group from Guinea, West Africa.

"I listened to it a lot and fell in love with the music," Heller said.

A 2004 trip to Mali with childhood buddy Perkins to study with West African guitarist Lamine Soumano changed Heller's life and his approach to playing music.

"We were working on one song, and I asked him what I should play for a solo," Heller said. "(Lamine) said he couldn't show me anything, that I could only do it for myself. It eased some of the fears I had about trying to imitate the West African style."

Quaranta, who also has made several trips to West Africa, said West African music is a style that can't be learned through books.

"It needs to be experienced and soaked up," he said. "By being there, you can get a feel for the place and the musical style. Our teachers were very inspiring, and they're the reason we're playing the music we're playing now."

The band's name was inspired by the West African word for "foreigner" (Toubab) and a New Orleans slang spelling of the word "crew."

"It speaks to the fact that our music balances between different genres," Quaranta said. "It's also a nod to the diversity and culture found in New Orleans."

Diversity is the key for Toubab Krewe, who not only has incorporated West African percussion and old-fashioned guitar-based rock and roll in their music, but also influences of surf rock, jazz, gypsy swing and country swing.

"It's been a way for us to show that good music has no boundaries, no frontiers," Heller said.

Toubab Krewe released their first self-titled CD in 2005 and recently finished recording their second, due to be released in early spring.

While the band is proud of their recorded music, Quaranta said Toubab Krewe is a band best experienced live.

"We play music that's great for dancing and for listening to," he said. "There are people from (ages) 15 to 75 in our audiences, and everyone has a smile on their faces. That's very inspirational to me. It shows how music can bring people together."

n Reporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.