Photo: Courtesy of BoomShake Music.
BoomShake Music
Intercultural Drumming
About the Organization
BoomShake Music is an intercultural, community music, and storytelling program for all ages, guided by principles of social justice and gender liberation. They have taught and drummed in Oakland since 2014, with program areas including: community drum workshops, support for social justice efforts, and free school residencies. They also organize multicultural, intergenerational events, such as music and storytelling performances, arts festivals, and arts and cultural programming at street marches. Through their programs, BoomShake Music encourages participants to learn the cultural context of music and how it has been used to give voice to oppressed communities, as well as to explore and share their own ancestral musical and cultural traditions. Their work is aimed at women, trans, and nonbinary people of color; Oakland youth and families; and communities striving for survival and liberation.
A sampler of BoomShake Music’s youth programming.
Living Cultures Grant
2021
BoomShake Community Cajón Circles
With support from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grant Program, percussionist Pedro Rosales will partner with BoomShake Music to lead a series of free, intergenerational workshops in Oakland focused on traditional Afro-Peruvian percussion, song, and culture. The workshops will involve guest workshops by other musicians of the Afro-Peruvian tradition and culminate in free community gatherings where participants will share what they have learned with friends and family.
