Carolyn Brandy

Welcome to My YouTube channel. It’s all about drums!! And the incredibly beautiful expression of culture and humanity that is the message of the drum itself-all cultures, all peoples-the heartbeat of Life, through the Thick and the Thin.  I am a conga drummer and I love the tumbadora. I am thankful to Cuban culture that has given the world so much art, music, and spirituality. 

Carolyn is a percussionist, composer, performer, educator, and cultural worker. She started playing conga drums in 1968, and has been a door-opener for women in the traditionally male world of percussion. Carolyn has played with many artists in the Bay Area; taught for many years at Jazz Camp West, the California Jazz Conservatory, CIIS, in the Berkeley/Oakland school districts, and San Quentin penitentiary. She was a founder of the all women jazz quintet, Alive!; founded the groups Ojalá, Sistah Boom, Women Drummers International, and Born to Drum. She released a CD of original music, Skin Talk, in 1996.