The Breath of the Drum takes a deep dive into the world of Second Lines and like-spirited parades and processions around the world. Our 20+ years on this quest for the sonic jewels of the world has taken us from New Orleans to Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, Philadelphia and beyond. We’re continually in awe of how the rhythms, costumes, dances of these places share common roots – culture that transcends time and place – and the modern day culture bearers who continue to carry the culture forward.

We travel to the sonic jewels of the world to conduct field recordings and oral tradition interviews, film, photograph, and most importantly participate in the great Second Line cultures of the world. Content from the series is used to produce full length parade recordings, Podcasts, Documentary Videos, Photography, and “Deep Dive” Web Content

In the spirit of reciprocity, we bring musicians & griots from our Breath of the Drum Series to produce a multi-day event featuring a Second Line style parade, workshops and master classes. The flexible nature of these events makes them well suited for a variety of institutions including K-12 Schools, Colleges & Universities, neighborhood/community groups, and cultural institutions like music venues and museums.

Using the multimedia content from the Breath of the Drum Series and Road Show, we work with educators to craft content from The Breath of the Drum Series and Road Show into educational curriculum. The goal of our exhibitions and educational programs is to support the work of the musicians and artists of the Second Lines while inspiring the youth to keep the traditions moving forward.

The Breath of the Drum Road Show series cultivates community through multicultural arts experiences that explore the unsung people, places, and events of the Underground Railroad. Our events and workshops are inspired by New Orleans’ style second line brass band parades, in which people moving differently together to a common rhythm have fun, let go, overcome barriers, and unite in new ways. Brass bands in America were ubiquitous at the turn of the 19th century and helped bridge African Diasporic culture across fluid borders, memory and time.

Our team facilitates second line parades in areas important to the history of the Underground Railroad, pairing a visiting brass band with a local group to honor a historic figure of the Underground Railroad along with a contemporary figure who is carrying on the Fight for Freedom. We work with local institutions to plan the events and parade-centric workshops to develop programs that are rooted in place and allow for community to express self and story through various artistic modalities. The works generated from the parades and workshop series become a part of our digital and physical exhibitions. In our twenty years documenting the parades of the African Diaspora we’ve found art created and shared by the people for the people in the streets galvanizes minds and shifts paradigms – we’ve witnessed communities coming together through inclusive education, focused engagement and shared creative energy. The Road Show harnesses this energy into a kaleidoscope of living art, activating participant reflection, innovation, and pathways to positive change.

In the fall of 2016, we partnered with Writers Room a community outreach program of Drexel University’s Dornsife Center for Community Partnerships. The NEA Big Read event centered around Zora Neale Hurston’s life and work, featuring talks by Zora Neale Huston scholar Dr. Cheryl Wall, flash-fiction writing, dance programs and field-recording workshops. To kick off this multi-week program, we produced a 2nd line parade featuring the West Powelton Drummers, a West Philly community drumline with 25+ years serving the community. The 2nd line went from a theater at Drexel, through the streets and ended at a community center where they performed alongside a college jazz band.  The short video we created captures the essence of the event that strived to close the ‘town-and-gown’ gap between the university and it’s neighboring community.

Melodious Thunk spent several months in Santiago de Cuba in a quest for the different mythical rhythms of the conga parades, conducting interviews, recording parades, and producing art shows with local conga groups.

Melodious Thunk began before hurricane Katrina as a community project in the Crescent City by a small group of New Orleans artists hoping to record the Sunday Second Line Parades. Over the years we’ve grown as we’ve ventured round the world into other sonic communities filled with like-minded folks enamored by the exhilarating sounds of music in the street. In our collective travels we’ve found beauty and wonder follow vibrant sound through dance, costumes and stories, with each sonic event presenting an occasion to showcase the unusual and spectacular.