About

Jebada Powell is the founder and director of Joy of Djembe Drumming which he formed in 2013. He started drumming on his kitchen table at the age of 10 along with the newly released record album of Drums of Passion by Babatunde Olatunji which his mom had brought home. He grew up in the cities of New York, including Spanish Harlem where drumming occurred daily on every street corner. He learned to play congas, timbales, and djembe from the neighborhood old timers which influenced his primary focus throughout the years on Latin, Afro-Cuban and West African rhythms.

Jebada played in the Brooklyn College Latin band from 1969-1973. On weekends Jebada regularly drummed in New York's famed Central Park drum circle and in Brooklyn's Prospect Park drum circle. He studied under Houston's Master Drummer Abubakr Kouyate from 2006-2008 and attended the Wula Drum Retreat Intensive in 2014 and 2018.

After moving to Houston, Jebada has worked professionally as a djembe drumming instructor, drum circle facilitator and leader of Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble. He participates in several of the annual events and festivals in the Greater Houston Area such as Houston Thanksgiving Parade, Chevron Marathon, Houston International Festival, the Jones Hall "Day of Music" festival, and the Houston Art Crawl. He facilitated the Texas Big Beat drum-circle and the 2011 Unity Church Oneness Blessing celebration drum-circle. He currently hosts and facilitates the Imani Vida Community drum circle monthly, and the Galveston Seawall Summer Full Moon drum circles and the League City Solstice/Equinox drum-circles. Jebada also travels around giving presentations and performances at schools, museums, libraries, and senior citizens centers.

JODD Ensemble

Image by Lena Fischer

Lena Fischer’s passion for drumming began as a toddler, playing on pots and pans on the kitchen floor with a pair of wooden spoons. She continued to nurture that early love of music through dance, piano, and guitar lessons. She was chosen to lead her high school marching band as drum major. Lena’s musical endeavors encompass a wide range of genres, including rock, heavy metal, new age, and orchestra. She became interested in hand drumming in 2012 as a way of imitating and embracing the Latin rhythms she heard growing up. She found a love in African drums and began to study under Houston's Master Drummer Abubakr Kouyate for the next two years. Her most fulfilling musical experience to date has been playing the djembe, kenkeni dun and dancing with the scarf poi with the family of musicians of the Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble.

Robert Clay has been playing congas and miscellaneous percussion for many years, enjoying various collaborations with numerous accomplished musicians and groups. When he moved to Houston from Chicago, he was fortunate to meet Jebada Powell who introduced him to the djembe and encouraged him to join Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble. Robert loves playing congas, djembe and various shakers and claves with the very wonderful people of the ensemble.

Patty Mayeux was exposed to the joy of music early on and took piano lessons as a young girl. She still plays piano (a little) as well as guitar and ukulele (a little more). She discovered djembe drumming a decade ago and joined in circles whenever and wherever she could. When she moved to Houston in 2011 she discovered Imani Vida where she met Jebada Powell. She is proud to be a founding member of the Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble and is so thankful for the opportunity to hone her skills and expand her knowledge of all things djembe with the group.

Rosa Martinez-Readore was introduced to the beautiful sounds and rhythms of the djembe by her talented husband, Gary. For the past five years, she has learned and expanded her knowledge and capacity of playing African rhythms. In addition, she is learning to play the ukulele, congas, and the Native American flute. Music inspires her as depicted in the following quote by Plato: “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”

Jihad Powell is a classically trained saxophonist and has enjoyed playing in bands from middle school through college. He taught himself to play guitar and bass and has been sharing those talents in various musical collaborations, since 2001, especially rock bands. His father, Jebada, taught him hand percussion while he was in grade school. Jihad has enjoyed collaborating and participating in the Joy of Djembe Drumming ensemble since 2013.

Gary Readore was first exposed to music when he played the clarinet in elementary school, adding organ lessons in junior high school. He traded instruments for singing while in high school, participating in the school choir all four years. Gary picked up guitar playing in college but set that aside while pursuing a career in Civil Engineerig after graduation. Fast forward many years when he once again turned to his love of music, returned to the keyboard and learned to play ukulele and doumbek. On a whim and with a desire to learn something new Gary decided to check out a djembe drum class led by Master Drummer Mohammed Diaby and fell in love with the African rhythms and the dynamic sounds of the djembe. He studied with Mohammed Diaby for several years until Mohammed moved out of town and has continued his study with Master Drummer Baba Ogurinde Abiona. Gary met Jebada Powell at a local drum circle and when Jebada indicated he wanted to form a djembe ensemble and was looking for members, Gary jumped at the chance to be a part of a group making music through drumming. He is proud to be a founding member of the Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble

Gerald Readore took organ lessons as a kid, but didn’t start getting serious about music until college when he starting playing guitar. Life got in the way after that and his musical endeavors were suspended until a friend suggested he try playing the ukulele. He was hooked and became the organizer of the original Houston Ukulele Meetup Group, and later became interested in Bluegrass music and learned to play the banjo. His interest in the djembe began when he took a class with Master drummer Mohamed Diaby from Guinea. He later joined the Joy of Djembe of Drumming Ensemble as one of the founding members. Gerald played with his twin brother, Gary, in a group called PAIRadox, and a Hawaiian band “The Houston Slackers.” He currently plays with “The Cool Hand Ukes” and leads the Folk, World and Hawaiian Ukulele Meetup group.

Ben Chartier is a self-taught percussionist. Born and raised in France, he started playing the drum kit in college and joined various pop-rock, marching bands, musicals and jazz projects. He has been focusing on exploring and studying traditional West African music & cultural heritage and its significance as it is manifesting throughout the African diaspora in the Americas. Since landing in Houston in 2017, he has joined and performed with the Samba Reggae bateria ensemble Batalá - celebrating Afro Brazilian and Native Brazilian cultural and artistic expressions - and with Samba Houston - honoring the traditions of Samba Enredo & carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. He studies and practices traditional percussion from the music genre mentioned above. Very grateful for the opportunity to continue on this journey, he joined JoDD in 2022 and is currently developing on the Djembe - under the thoughtful & caring guidance of JoDD senior members.

Banke Awopetu has degrees in Drama and African/African-American Studies from the University of Virginia. She attributes her explosive stage performance as poet, stand-up comedian and dancer to her Black American and Nigerian lineage.
Some of her many accolades include leadership, keynote or performance roles for The Urban League, Hope Global Forum, Source’s Educate and Elevate panel and features in Ebony and Women’s Health magazines. Commissions include Houston Museum of African-American Culture and the Houston African-American Library. She was awarded the 2021 Idea Fund grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. She has performed for NPR Moth Story Slam (gaining champion status), Def Comedy Jam, Houston and Arlington Improv, Komedy Lounge, Afrifest, and others. Her work as an education activist awarded her an invite to President Barack Obama’s White House.