Hooked on Drums™: About Us

Hooked on Drums is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation based in Chicago , founded in 2006 to carry on the youth drumming educational and performance programs that began in Minnesota under the banner of The Sojourner Truth Center, and have continued in Chicago as part of the Chicago Djembe Project.

Our Board of Directors:

• Dr. Lilian Friedberg, Founder, Vice President and Executive Director
• Jim Banks, Co-Founder, President and Business Manager
• Steven L. Foster, Secretary, member of the Chicago Djembe Project Ensemble

Dr. Lilian Friedberg, Founder/Artistic Director

Dr. Friedberg began teaching African drumming to youth and leading youth drumming ensembles in 1994, after having been a soloist, group leader and drumming instructor in Europe and the U.S. since 1986. She has developed, designed and facilitated the Hooked On Drums curriculum and performance program in community centers, schools, churches, arts organizations and other settings.

Born in Wisconsin , an expatriate in Europe in the 1980s, and living and teaching in Minnesota from 1992 to 1999, she is now based in Chicago and has taught youth and adult students throughout the Midwest . She is a bilingual, published author with a PhD from the University of Illinois/Chicago and an M.A. from the University of Chicago .

While living in Europe in the 1980s, Dr. Friedberg was one of the first non-African students of Les Ballets Africains legend and Malinke Master Drummer Famoudou Konaté, and one of the first and finest drummers and teachers on the continent. She has made four study trips to Guinea , West Africa to learn the authentic djembe drumming tradition and participate in traditional Malinke festivals.

Jim Banks, Co-Founder

Jim has dedicated himself to the djembe/dunun drumming tradition since 1996, and has been a drumming instructor since 2003. He brings high standards of professionalism to djembe teaching, performing, organization and promotion. He has studied and apprenticed with Lilian Friedberg since 1998 as co-founder of the Chicago Djembe Project, studied intensively with Master Drummer Famoudou Konaté from 2000 to 2004, and has also studied with Master Drummer Mamady Keita.

As manager of the Chicago Djembe Project (CDP), Jim established Guinean Master Drummer Famoudou Konaté's North American workshops and performances from 1999 through 2004, organized workshops in Chicago for Master Drummer Mamady Keita from 1999 to 2002 , and organized CDP's classes while co-directing its performing ensemble.