We closed our program year with a celebration! On Saturday, June 17 we feasted our program year around a bonfire for the solstice and then danced to the magic of drumming, rattling, song and joy!

And we had a professional Drum Circle leader for the event!

Knowledge Shabazz who prefers to go by Lil Bird (his given Native American name), has been playing “hand drums” for most of his life. His love affair with the drum started as a child in the 1970’s, while being exposed to bands like Earth Wind & fire, War and Mandrill. These bands were introduced to him by his mother and his aunts /uncles. A few of his aunts were traveling through Africa and the Caribbean during this time so he would receive instruments and music from these far-off places.

During all this exposure to these different instruments and musical voicings there was a sound being molded, shaped and configured in the Washington DC area. This new sound and feel came to be known as the music of the Nation’s capital Gogo music.

Lil Bird is currently promoting his latest musical project the DC Hunters and their new album Norfeast to Nawlins. This album according to Big chief Brian Harrison-Nelson (Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society) …my brotha Lil Bird from the Mardi Gras Indian Nation has an important body of music that fuses Traditional Black Masking Indian music with Gogo percussions and rhythms from DC. He further states It’s a really special groundbreaking project that every lover of Gogo and New Orleans should support.