@purposefullyerin's Review of Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts / Riverwest Artists Association - Milwaukee, WI

Hello, my name is Erin Oloma. Purposefully Erin on Instagram and all platforms. I am here today at the final Genesis Music Clinic of 2024, and it has been a banging amazing. Wouldn't you say so, Obi? I would say so. I would say so. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Introduce the people to who you are. Yeah, yeah. So I'm Obi. on all the platforms, as Aaron said, as Oba and Nia. You can't spell that, it's okay. But yeah, yeah. I've been in music my whole life and I recently kind of been making a return to music in recent years of life. And coming back to Milwaukee after being in LA for a very long time, over a decade, Don and I met in LA. And, you know, she's like, y'all got this clinic happening. You got to come. And I'm like, yeah, I do got to come because it's about wellness. It's about music. It's a safe space. And it was literally exactly what I needed. So, yeah, I'm a very excited human to be a part of this experience for so many different reasons. Amazing. And how did you start with the congas? I mean, we have all been able to witness your incredible flow and style on the congas. tell us a little bit about that give us a summary of how yeah um you know i was a boy you know i grew up in uh isha temples my parents are traditional african priests and um you know we actually would all have we have these bimbays like we have what's called shrine day every the last sunday of every month and um a lot of times people from the original village in south carolina oyatunji would come out and they the king would come with like his whole like entourage and he had drummers that way. tell us a little bit about that give us a summary of how yeah um you know i was a boy you know i grew up in uh isha temples my parents are traditional african priests and um you know we actually would all have we have these bimbays like we have what's called shrine day every the last sunday of every month and um a lot of times people from the original village in south carolina oyatunji would come out and they the king would come with like his whole like entourage and he had drummers that way. would come and Babatunde was like one of the like I thought he was the coolest dude he was just like this big burly like Cubano African dude with like this big beard he just a big laugh like he was just the most jovial dude and he could smack them congas like nobody's business um so his chops were really like I was just in awe of this person and um you know he would teach me little things here and there and that goes back to when I was four years old and then my mother you know saw how I took to the drum and so she put me into classes and then i went into kothi and i was being taught by silo negron and so many other amazing people because my mother's an incredible musician as well so she set it up she's like look man you know this is your thing i'm gonna give you the you know the the the red carpet or whatever so i've been doing it since i was a boy and it was the culture that brought me to it you said cecilia negron yeah of course rest in heaven and also Finlayson. Ashay, both of them, yeah. And we know how Miss Finlayson has a street named after him now here in Milwaukee. Yeah, yeah. Okay, period. Okay, so thank you so much for answering my question. Absolutely. It's been such an honor getting to know you and meeting you within Genesis Music Clinics. So excited for what's next. Yes, Ashay.