The two-time Grammy Award-winning group, Planet Drum, is a global percussion ensemble bringing together the world’s greatest rhythm masters into a one-of-a-kind supergroup and “King Clave” is the centerpiece from their upcoming album In the Groove that highlights Planet Drum’s inspiring message of unity through music and the global community.
Through the rhythms of this song, hearts are connected, and differences disappear, illuminating how deeply humanity is interconnected and revealing the truth of the adage: WE ARE ONE.
This special Planet Drum Song Around The World, created for the UN General Assembly and partnership, features the legendary Grateful Dead drummer, Mickey Hart along with extraordinary percussionists Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo and traditional drummers and dancers from around the globe.
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About The Ensemble
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is best known as a drummer in the Grateful Dead, which for three decades channeled the voices and visions of rock’s psychedelic counterculture and blended them with folk, blues, country, jazz, and other American music streams. On the strength of that work, Hart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and named to Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.
In addition to his Dead-related work, Hart has a longstanding musical mission: to break the rhythm code of the universe and probe its deepest vibrations. That effort, which began in earnest in the 1970s with the Diga Rhythm Band, produced Planet Drum (1991) and Global Drum Project (2008), both of which received Grammys in the World Music category.
Zakir Hussain
The pre-eminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time, Zakir Hussain is appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon and one of the world’s most esteemed and influential musicians.
The foremost disciple of his father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of twelve, accompanying India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers and touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen. His brilliant accompaniment, solo performance and genre-defying collaborations, including his pioneering work to develop a dialogue between North and South Indian musicians, have elevated the status of his instrument both in India and globally, bringing the tabla into a new dimension of renown and appreciation.
Zakir Hussain
The pre-eminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time, Zakir Hussain is appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon and one of the world’s most esteemed and influential musicians.
The foremost disciple of his father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of twelve, accompanying India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers and touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen. His brilliant accompaniment, solo performance and genre-defying collaborations, including his pioneering work to develop a dialogue between North and South Indian musicians, have elevated the status of his instrument both in India and globally, bringing the tabla into a new dimension of renown and appreciation.
Giovanni Hidalgo
Legendary percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo was born in Puerto Rico in 1963 and grew up in home filled with the drums, bongos, congas and timbales used by his father and grandfather, both musicians themselves.
Hidalgo began playing on a home made conga crafted by his father from a wooden barrel, when he was just eight years old. He also practiced on other percussion instruments, applying his great talent to become one of the top Latin percussionists in the world today. The sounds other drummers create with sticks, Hidalgo creates with his hands. His lightning-fast precision is particularly admired by others.
Sikiru Adepoju
“The Mozart of the talking drum” as Mickey would call him, Sikiru Adepoju (Seek-ee-roo Ah-deh-poh-joo) came to America in 1985 to play with O.J. Ekemode’s Nigerian All-Stars, and one year later met Babatunde Olatunji. He became an integral part of Olatunji’s Drums of Passion and later appeared with Mickey on Grammy Award winning Planet Drum project. His technical mastery of the talking drum and various indigenous Yoruba percussion instruments such as dundun, gudugudu, gangan, omele, sekere, bembe, ogido and other African drums has gained him acceptance and respect among music listeners of all tastes. His unique spirit, discipline, and commitment to the moment engage & draw-in audiences, body and mind, all over the globe.
Sikiru Adepoju
“The Mozart of the talking drum” as Mickey would call him, Sikiru Adepoju (Seek-ee-roo Ah-deh-poh-joo) came to America in 1985 to play with O.J. Ekemode’s Nigerian All-Stars, and one year later met Babatunde Olatunji. He became an integral part of Olatunji’s Drums of Passion and later appeared with Mickey on Grammy Award winning Planet Drum project. His technical mastery of the talking drum and various indigenous Yoruba percussion instruments such as dundun, gudugudu, gangan, omele, sekere, bembe, ogido and other African drums has gained him acceptance and respect among music listeners of all tastes. His unique spirit, discipline, and commitment to the moment engage & draw-in audiences, body and mind, all over the globe.