WOMAD

Johnny Kalsi

From India, United Kingdom

Johnny Kalsi MUST have the most varied CV of anyone. The UK's most celebrated player of the dhol, the twin-skinned Punjabi drum, has cropped up all over the joint, whether in the company of WOMAD-friendly artists like the Afro Celts and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, on the records of more unusual suspects like Avril Lavigne and Nelly Furtado or on the soundtracks of Hollywood blockbusters (Tomorrow Never Dies, Gangs Of New York, The Incredible Hulk). But it's The Dhol Foundation that's his true pride and joy - the organisation that not only introduces the dhol to a legion of eager-to-learn students but that also delivers an impenetrable - and irresistible - wall of sound at its live performances. Think of TDF as the Anglo-Asian equivalent of a Brazilian samba school, a unified force ready to pressgang your limbs into action. The rhythm is gonna get ya.
The Dhol Foundation