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DJIMBE West African Drummers and Dancers (DWADD) carries the spirit of Africa in its works to preserve West African cultures and to strengthen its ties to the United States. In thrilling performances, DJIMBE enthralls and gratifies those already aware of African culture, as it captivates those unfamiliar with the power and glory that is Africa.
DJIMBE West African Drummers and Dancers was founded in 1987 and became incorporated under the name DWADD in 1989. DJIMBE (pronounced Jim-bay) takes it name from the West African djimbe drum . The group was founded by Leon L. Mobley who is the Artistic and Musical Director and President of the Board of Directors. He also has a signature series djimbe drum with Remo Inc. He began to play African drum rhythms in 1967 and studied for ten years with Master Drummer Babatunde Olatunji at The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts. In 1977, Leon studied djimbe drumming when he joined the dance company Boken~Deye under the directorship of Ibrahima Camara, former drummer for the National Ballet of Senegal. He joined the Art of Black Dance and Music in 1980 under the directorship of DeAma Battle and Bamidele Osamarea, musical director. Leon traveled to West Africa, Senegal and the Gambia in 1982, to Japan in 1987 and 1992 and to South Africa in 1991 and 1992. Leon has taught African drum rhythms in Boston at Berklee Collage of Music and Paige Academy where he was the Musical Director of the school. He has taught at UCLA as well as the Lula Wahingtons Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theater and at the Los Angeles High School for the Arts on the campus of CSLA.
DJIMBE is a professional dance company of drummers and dancers who perform renditions of ethnic dances of the Bambara, Bagas, Mandinka, Mlinka, Djola and Wolof people form the countries of Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea - Bissau and Mali with additional material from Ghana and Liberia.
The company has built a repertoire of twelve ballets and has performed throughout Southern California, Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Japan. As a former member of the Los Angeles Music Center On Tour and Orange Countys From the Center on Tour program the company traveled all over Los Angeles County and Orange County and the surrounding counties performing for students from kindergarten through the twelfth grade.
DJIMBE offers full - length concerts, mini performances, master dance and drum classes, lecture demonstrations and workshops, teacher workshops and student workshops.
As a people for the African Diaspora, we have embraced West African dance, rhythms and culture as one would embrace a lost child. We are the lost children who have found our way home, back to the mother land through the language of the drum and the movement of the dance. We have learned to embrace our heritage and to use it to help our young brothers and sisters. We would like to teach them that they may strive for excellence for what they can become. We also use our African Heritage to educate people to respect each other’s differences.
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