About
US
We are students, teachers, listeners, and creators—drumming from the heart, for the heart, and with our heart. Inspired by West African rhythms and our African-American heritage, Sistahs of the Drum creates music that resonates deeply with us and with you.
Co-founders Zenju Earthylynn Manuel and Simbwala Schultz began Sistahs of the Drum as a duo in 1998. They brought Congolese rhythms to the community, drumming for rituals, weddings, and other cultural ceremonies in the Bay Area. Roz McMillian, Skye Ward, and Micia Mosely joined soon after, followed by Rosetta Saunders, Mar Stevens, Angela Niles and Sandy Mills, who brought their West African drumming experience. After passing on the lineage, the founding members retired from the group and turned the leadership over to Mar who has continued to lead it with strength and dedication.
Current members are Mar Stevens, Sandy Mills, Shawn Nealy-Oparah, La Tanya Carmical, Rosetta Saunders, Mya Jonisha Cross, and LaFonda Traore. Former members are Anaya Gamble Hill, Charline Gumbs, Salina Gray, Jilian Lyles, Nina Roberts, and Cynthia Sherren.
Check out our archival blog and learn more about Sistahs of the Drum's history at sistahsofthedrum.blogspot.com.
La Tanya Carmical
I have 40+ years on the Bay Area music scene as a creative artist, dancer, percussionist, and vocalist with classical, Funk, gospel, Jazz, Latin, R&B, Rock, Soul and international influences. I found my voice in church, public school music programs and the family’s eclectic record collection. My vocal style reflects the spirit of soulful singers/songwriters Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Bill Withers, Carol King, Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, James Taylor, Jill Scott, Frankie Beverly, The Isley Brothers, Stokely (Mint Condition),
Santana and the great Tina Turner. Through percussion I strive to reflect the spirit of mentors/master drummers Mabiba Bagne, Carolyn Brandy, Rolando Soto (video) and Vinx (Djembefola to Sting who dubbed me “L’il Drummer Girl” at a Soul Kitchen cruise session).
I have 18+ years with "The Fundamentals" (vocalist / percussionist / performer). I am a music coach at Castro Valley School of Music teaching rhythm, facilitating percussion workshops, and coaching online at Clefology.
I perform live with Joey T & Friends, guitarist Mark Waterford and pianist Simon Russell. I make yearly appearances as the Mrs. Santa Claus personality/character for the Stephen & Ayesha Curry Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation Holiday Events, a member of Women’s Drummer’s International network, and a member vocalist and drummer with the Sistahs of the Drum.
As a creative artist, my hope is to inspire the way I have been inspired by others!
Mya Jonisha Cross
I embarked on my creative expression journey as a young artist, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a deep passion for self-discovery through art. I started drumming when I was 8 years old with this amazing group of women and continued to draw inspiration from my other activities; theater, hip-hop dance, and body percussion.
My artistic style has evolved into a unique fusion of tradition and innovation. Each new venture has allowed me to push the boundaries of my creativity, challenging conventional norms and embracing the freedom of artistic expression. I have remained committed to using my art as a catalyst for positive change and contagious joy.
Sandy Mills
I am a physician healer who started my drum journey more than 20 years ago. I believe the drum is a powerful healing tool, and I love sharing the lineage of African drumming with community. In Sistah’s of the Drum, I love playing percussion. The bell, guiro, clave, and shakers are my favorite instruments. I’m responsible for holding the beat as the other drummers riff. In the end they always come back to me. The percussion tools for me are a metaphor for life: stay steady on your path, don’t lose the beat, help those around you to stay on their path. I feel blessed and privileged to bring the healing power of the drum to all who listen.
Shawn Nealy-Oparah
​
I am an innovative, trauma-informed educator with twenty years of experience as a teacher, school leader, and school transformation equity coach in the nonprofit sector. I am an unconventional educator who centers detoxing, decolonizing, and deconditioning my body and spirit from the unrestrained “-isms” that harm us. Practiced in somatic abolitionism and generative somatics, I bring these embodied skills into my teaching, leadership, and drumming.
​
Using both trauma-informed and equity lenses, I support schools to develop practices that center the humanness of children and adults, shift leadership and instructional practices, and improve student achievement. I am a former adjunct professor in the School of Education at Mills College and currently an adjunct professor in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. I am also an integrative wellness coach and founder of the Wellness Journey Portal, a coaching practice that supports people in reclaiming their health and tending to mind–body–spirit wellness through trauma-informed, neuroscience-aligned, and integrative nutrition approaches.
Rosetta Saunders
I am a retired educator, who taught People of Colors History in the US for twenty years.
I came to the drum while attending my first Afro-Haitian dance class at Mills College.
When the drums began to speak, I knew in my bones that they were calling me to this sacred medicine.
For the past twenty five years I’ve had the pleasure of drumming with master drummers, learning the heartbeat rhythms from the diasporas. They have given rise to the life force of gratitude for healing, planting, harvesting, ritual, initiation, ceremony and joy for myself and the community.
I give thanks to my ancestors and the many teachers who have guided me along this path of sacred reciprocity. Ache’
Mar Stevens
I am a drum warrior, who connected with my inner rhythms as a child drumming on my grade school desk. I began my drum journey twenty years ago with Master Drummer, Afia Walking Tree, of Spirit Drumz. The Drum transformed my life and continues to inspire and heal me.
I continued my studies of West African rhythms by attending the Fore-Fote drum camp in Guinea, West Africa. I studied with Master Drummers and dancers on the Island of Roume, learning songs, dances, and rhythms.
I teach and love sharing the rhythms of West Africa with community. I perform and am the leader of the ensemble, Sistahs of the Drum, a Bay Area group of Women of African descent. Our mission is to heal, transform, and witness through the power of the drum.
I led the women’s Brazilian marching band for 12 years called Sista Boom in the East Bay. I currently teaches at Meadows Livingstone school, an Afrocentric elementary school in San Francisco. I also teach at Born to Drum Camp in the Bay Area, and Total Rhythm drum and percussion studio in Alameda, along with having private students.
I have performed at varies venues in the Bay Area like Ashkenaz, Bioneers Conference, Mills College, UCSF and SF State events, etc.
LaFonda Traore, BSN, JD
I currently work as a Registered Nurse in the Post Anesthesia Unit at UCSF Parnassus (8 years PACU experience and 9 years adult ICU experience). Sandwiched between working as an ICU nurse and a PACU nurse, I practiced law as a state and federal public defender for 17 years. I consider myself a people person and an empath. It is my path in life to help others (hence the careers I've pursued), but over the years, I've sought ways to assist people in believing in themselves. As an African American woman raised in the south (South Carolina), I'm acutely and painfully aware of how all the 'isms of this life can impact a person's psyche. My goal is to give hope, encouragement and a listening ear/heart to the people that I encounter. I want people to feel heard and to know that they matter; despite what "society" may throw at them. Meditation, yoga, and motorcycle riding keep me grounded. And then in 2010, I bought a djembe drum and started taking lessons. Changed my life. I started attended African drum and dance festivals, which then led to my taking my first trip to Mali with my drum
teacher, Abdoul Doumbia. Being connected to the Motherland fed a hunger that I didn't even know existed. Studying African drumming with my teachers here in the US is special, however, being able to to study with my teachers in their country brings a whole other level of empowerment, love and gratitude for myself, my family, my ancestors and for the Motherland. I specifically want to thank my teachers Abdoul Doumbia, Karim Coulibaly (RIP), Drissa Kone, Ibrahima Sarr, Moussa Traore, Fara Tolno, Bolokada Conde, and Namory Keita.
I first came onboard to Sistahs of the Drum as an apprentice for several years and then was invited to be a full member of this amazing group of women. (I had been harboring hopes of joining this group, but didn't know how it would be possible as I was living in Denver when these thoughts came to me). Drumming is powerful, healing and inspiring. To share this with women of African descent is simply mindblowing. We hold each other, support each other while the drums and the spirits of our ancestors guide us. I am grateful to do something that I love with this amazing group of women and to touch the lives of the people who see us perform brings a tremendous amount of joy back to us. Drumming is our cultural heritage. Sharing our culture is sharing love and healing. For me, that is what Sistahs of the Drum is all about. Love. Healing. Joy.