Mor Thiam

Mor Thiam is a Senegalese master drummer, cultural historian, and performer whose surname translates to "historian" in his native Wolof. [2, 4] Emigrating to the United States in 1968, he fused the traditional percussive vocabularies of his homeland with the avant-garde jazz and funk of his new environment. [3, 11] He worked extensively with choreographer Katherine Dunham and members of the Black Artists' Group, recording with figures like Freddie Hubbard and the World Saxophone Quartet. [1, 13] His work is defined by a deep, rolling groove on the djembe, shaping a percussive language that served as a foundational influence on global music and his son, the artist Akon. [10, 11]