The band name you're really going to want to know when your friends ask

It's almost unbelievable, but there's a St. Louis gem those of us on the scene know of, but may not be prominent among the popular consciousness. This is not some rare geode found only in the St. Louis, Missouri area. It's a 9 piece band called Kreative Pandemonium.

Led by world-renowned djembe player, Weedie Braimah, this band will literally blow your mind. The band includes a full horn section, including Jahi Eskridge also of Big Brother Thunder and the Master Blasters, Jason Torrey and Mike Ebron. The horns they play cover trumpet, alto and barritone sax, and french horn! Then you turn to the strummed instruments with Mr. Teddy Brookins of Brothers Lazaroff on bass. According to Weedie, Brookins is the best bass player he's ever worked with. If you see him walking those beautiful bass lines, you'll know why. On lead guitar is Atum Jones, a prodigy in the making. After only 3 years on electric guitar he is surpassing many who have been playing for much longer. The core of the band comes from African drums - the djembe - played phenomenally by Weedie, who is joined by Alex Asar Jones, and dunun played by brothers Ezra and Yehalelel Kaniya. The show is topped off by a dancing beauty by the name of Andrea Peoples and Bushra Muhammad, who appears at most shows as well. Ms. Peoples also happens to be Weedie's bride and the creative director of the band.

The rhythms Kreative Pandemonium (KP if you're cool enough to pull it off) plays are based in West African, African American, Afrocuban and Afrobrazilian cultures. They are guaranteed to make you move! If you aren't on your feet by the end of the first or second song, you may not be watching KP in the flesh. That, or you need to check your pulse. These songs, fast paced or slow groove the crowd into a collective buzz that can't be denied.

There is also a deeper meaning to the band that may not be as obvious to some. Kreative Pandemonium seeks to bridge the divide between members of the African diaspora through their music. They tell the story that many of the contemporary forms of popular music - jazz, soul and gospel specifically, come from the slave culture and that the collective slave past informs who Africans, of whatever background, are as a larger cultural group, but does not limit them to the shackles of the past. The mission of KP is to bring the African diaspora forward from this dark past and unite them through a common thread of West African musical roots.

Mr. Braimah being from Ghana originally, has close ties to the form and history of the music. He has chosen to settle in St. Louis because he sees the struggle to move past the slave history in full force in this, the last Midwestern state this far west to practice legal slavery and thus participate in the slave trade. Braimah could have chosen any other city where his music might have been received much more openly, but he chose St. Louis. For that reason alone he and Ms. Peoples, the creative director of the band deserve commendation.

The music is bangin' too! For that reason, you should go learn from them at Connect Care (Clara Annex) April 12th. If you don't make it to the classes, like them on Facebook or check out their website to see exactly when the next show is. Mr. Braimah also teaches a weekly drum class at the Northside Artist Community at 1301 St. Louis Ave. The classes host anyone. You may see young children and retirees in the same class, all enthralled by Mr. Braimah's teaching and playing.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-band-name-you-re-really-going-to-want-to-know-when-your-friends-ask

#KreativePandemonium #AndreaPeoples #WeedieBraimah