Albert St. Albert Smith
Mr. Smith has studied dance at the University of San Francisco and drums with the Danny Duncan Dancers of San Francisco. He also studied with many African drummers from San Francisco and Los Angeles He also studied at the drum center in Los Angeles with Tony Adams, specialist in the Afro-Cuban drumming styles in 1968, 1969. Mr. Smith played the Congas Drums and percussion in Bands in Los Angeles and Southern California communities and moved to Vancouver, Canada in winter of 1975. Late in the 1980’s he met and studied with Baba Olatunji when travelling through Vancouver, Canada. Mr. Smith joined the faculty at Simon Fraser University in the Contemporary Arts department in the Fall of 1981.Mr. Smith is a full time faculty member and has taught courses in the School for the Contemporary Art at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C., Canada for the past 29 years. He is a gifted accompanist who uses his voice to characterize and embellish the quality of movement combinations with playing African drums, percussion, saxophone and piano in continuous flowing of rhythmic and harmonic progressions to enhance modern and contemporary dance learning experience. He teaches courses to student musicians to accompany and compose music for modern and contemporary dance by using an Afro-centric pedagogical approach in teaching.
Mr. Smith has been a professional musician, performer and composer for 40 years. He has performed and toured with Anna Wyman dance Theatre Company, Themba Tana’s African Heritage ensemble, World Drum ensemble, Nina Simone, Freddie Hubbard Jazz ensemble, Uzume Taiko Drum ensemble and Ache Brasil music ensemble as well as recording more then 10 albums with various music ensembles. Mr. Smith has performed with numerous choirs, theatre ensembles, orchestras and big bands. Mr. Smith has had touring projects throughout Canada, in the USA, Austria, China, Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Belgium and Ghana.
In 1999 Mr. Smith became the founding director of Simon Fraser University, Ghana Field School Arts program. This has continued to develop and thrive as an important program between the University of Ghana and Simon Fraser University and a model for other world university and arts programs. He has taken over 55 SFU students to Ghana in the summer Field School Arts program. He was also made arrangements for three Visiting faculty from members from the University of Ghana, School of Performing Arts to come and teach courses at SFU, Contemporary Arts in Ghanaian Performing Arts and Culture in spring semesters of 2004 and 2006. Mr. Smith as successfully directed, organized and taught in the SFU Ghana Field school program for 10 ten years.
Mr. Smith brings the music in the dance to the forefront as communication through and with the cultural spirit of the ancestors in performance.
All Drums talk!