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Staff
  Bird Fleming is a professional percussionist, educator, and performer. He is well versed in many styles of ethnic percussion: West African, South American, and Caribbean. He has studied with Simbo Wushu, Dennis Lee, Bernard Wry, Agustin Romero Diza from Havana Cuba, Cheikh Gueye, Zak Diop, and Abdullah Camara from Senegal, West Africa; El Hajjii Abubakari Lunna-Wombie and Guideon Foli Alorwoyie from Ghana; Danny Hines, Moacyr Machinni, and Marcus Santos of Brazil. Bird has performed with likes of Babatunde Olantunje, Gil Scott Heron, the Temptations, and Larry Harlow. He has recorded with the BCR Band, Imam Bilal Hyde, and Gerald Trimble. As founder and Artistic Director of the Traditional Music Society, he is not only an educator and performer, but also a world music liaison for area educational organizations. He has collaborated with many institutions in the Kansas City area such as the Kansas City Missouri School District, St. Vincent’s Operation Breakthrough, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, Young Audiences, Accessible Arts, the Jackson County Family Courts, the American Jazz Museum, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Additionally, Mr. Fleming had the distinction of assisting with the development of the core music curriculum for the Kansas City School District as ethnic music advisor in 1996. Mr. Fleming holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is currently working on a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.
Bird Ellington Fleming
Artistic Director, Traditional Music Society
 Vanessa Gibbs is a dancer and choreographer who specializes in the West African Dances of Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Gambia and Guinea, with expertise in Caribbean and Brazilian Samba. She has studied with Nia Becker, Nzingah Camara, Chuck Davis, Terri Brown, Danny Hinds, and Torean Johnson of Barbados, West Indies, Tyrone Atkins of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Marie Base from Senegal, West Africa, El Hajjii Abubakari Lunna-Wumbie, from Ghana, West Africa, and Moustapha Bongara from Guinea, West Africa. Vanessa teaches and performs throughout the Kansas City area and is affiliated with organizations such as Genesis School, St. Vincent’s Operation Breakthrough, Accessible Arts, Young Audiences, the Kansas City Missouri School District, and the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey. Ms. Gibbs has traveled and studied in Senegal, West Africa, and has performed in Chicago at the annual Dance Africa concert with the Sundance Dance Troupe. She had the distinction of being featured in the June 2003 issue of Jet Magazine. Ms. Gibbs, one of the co-founders of the Traditional Music Society and Dance Director of Soundz of Africa, continues to study other dance forms such as ballet, jazz, tap, and modern, while offering her teaching and performance talents to the Kansas City community.
Vanessa Gibbs
Dance Director, Soundz of Africa
 Xavier Fleming
is a saxophonist, producer, and percussionist. His studies are rooted in the percussion of West Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil. His teachers include Cheikh Gueye, from Senegal, West Africa, Fahali Igbo, Danny Hinds, of Barbados, West Indies, Weedie Braema, Gregory Ince, Terri Brown, Mr. Babba Ali, and his father, Bird Fleming. His saxophone instructors include Joe Miquelon, Gerald Dunn, Todd Wilkinson, and Amahad Alladeen. He attended Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, where he earned awards for solo performances in district and state competitions. He has also performed at venues in the Midwest and the east coast, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Xavier earned his bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Performance (Jazz Studies) at The University of the Arts (Philadelphia). While in Philadelphia, he performed with many percussion ensembles and earned an internship with The Recording Academy. Since returning to the Kansas City, area Xavier has been performing with local reggae band AZ One and is currently working with the Traditional Music Society as a performer and instructor.
Xavier Fleming
Musical Director, Soundz of Africa
 Patrick Alonzo Conway is a percussionist, wind player, and composer. He has studied with such noted Master Drummers as El Hajjii Abubakari Lunna-Wumbie, Frisner Augustín, Felipe Garcia Villamil, Alejandro Carvajal, and Ketut Gedé Asnawa. Mr. Conway has traveled to Cuba to research Afro-Cuban folklore, holds a MM in Composition from the UMKC Conservatory, and was a founding member of NewEar Ensemble. He has performed with the Gillham Park Ochtet, Grupo Aztlan, City in Motion, and Wee Snuff, and works with Paul Mesner Puppets, the National Audio Theater Festival, Kansas City Young Audiences, Traditional Music Society, Mambo DeLeon Orchestra, Brad Cox Ensemble, People’s Liberation Big Band, Terrestrial Consort, Goat’s Ear, and BCR. Conway was Music Director and performer in the UMKC Theater Department’s MFA production of Rita Dove’s The Darker Face of the Earth. His composition Sekar Purwa Pascima has been read by Kaliungu Kaja Banjar Gamelan, in Denpasar, Bali. Conway is director of the Balinese Music & Dance Troupe, Gamelan Genta Kasturi, and has traveled to Bali to conduct field research.
Patrick Alonzo Conway
Musical Director, Manos de Mañana
 Pablo La Rosa, a native of Cuba, is a musician, writer, and photographer. His collection of short stories, Forbidden Fruit, was published by Arte Publico Press in 1996. He has received numerous awards for fiction and poetry, including the Cintas Fellowship and the Seaton Award. His photography has appeared in literary magazines and textbooks such as New Letters, Chouteau Review, and Kansas Quarterly. Pablo has studied and performed Brazilian guitar music with Luciano Antonio, Afro Cuban drumming with Agustin Romero Diaz, and Brazilian percussion with Bird Fleming and Moacyr Machini. As a vocalist, he is conversant in Spanish and Portuguese lyrics. An original member of Young Audience’s Trio Folklorico, he performs with several ensembles, including Manos, Maus do Samba, Trio Tropical, and The Latin Touch. Pablo is passionate about travel, having visited 25 countries at last count. His most recent travels have taken him to the Peruvian Amazon, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. His journeys allow him to learn new music and acquire new instruments that he incorporates into his repertoire.
Pablo La Rosa
Musical Director, Trio Tropical
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