Formed in the early 1990s, born out of a  shared  love of Sun Ra, various traditional African drumming styles,  experimental music and dub reggae

 

After creating a series of template demos, Percussionist/Producer Richard Olatunde Baker formed the "band" , originally only as a series of improvised recording sessions along with avant-garde rock drummer Lou Ciccotelli and later included the Ghanaian Master Drummer Nana Tsiboe

 

After a string of vinyl & CD releases on various compilation albums and EPs, EARDRUM was picked up by the then brand new pioneering Leaf Label between 1999-2001 - and so the live band was born. The first ever EARDRUM gig was a performance on the famous Batofar floating Lighthouse venue on the river Seine in Paris, France.

 

The original line-up  included a wide cross-section of musicians, from Jason Yarde,  Gary Jeff, Nii Tagoe, and members of the Pan-African Dance Ensemble Adzido as well as junk percussion group Stomp

 

 

Their first album "Last Light" was chosen as MOJO magazine’s “Avant Garde album of the month” as the band continued to break the pre-concieved boundaries of live vs. electronic percussive head-music, with progressively dark and dense steamroller jams.Many listeners were astonished that EARDRUM's music was created completely live, without sampling technology. 

 

 

Although mostly instrumental music, EARDRUM has collaborated over the years with various vocalists, including:

 Gnawa Master Musician Boujemaa Bouboul (on two tracks on "Back To Now Volume 1" album), alongside the beautiful Eritrean Soulstress Saba Tewelde, the deep and spiritual French/Ivorian Okou, and more recently prolific Nigerian performance artist Helen Isibor/Venus Bushfires and also Egyptian spoken word artist EmpresS *1