Marc Anderson is a well-known percussionist, playing African, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Latin American percussion and xylophones. Marc Anderson's biography, in his own words:



I was born and raised in Austin Minnesota, the home of Spam. I grew up in a Lutheran church and around descendants of Scandinavian people. Hardly a ringing endorsement for a guy who makes his living as a percussionist I know, but my parents both taught ballroom dancing and I think my dad had an old pair of bongos around the house. As was the case with so many musicians my age, it was that magical Sunday night when Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles that first sparked the fire.



My mom got me hooked up with a great drummer named Bill Apold and I started taking some lessons. In Junior High, Bill Ness, Mike Edwards and I formed my first band Captain America. I'm still trying to live down a rendition of Inagadadavida at a Friday night mixer.



A few years later, Santana came on the scene and I was drawn to the "exotic" sounds and rhythms. I soon found myself checking out any record in the library that had a conga player or mysteriously, a percussionist listed in the credits. The dye was finally cast my junior year in high school when I had the chance to see both Weather Report with Dom Um Ramao, and The Paul Winter Consort. I remember being absolutely enchanted by the Consorts stage set up. It was crammed full of drums, xylophones and gongs. Little did I know that I would end up using that motif as a model for home decorating?



I made the commitment in 1974 at a Steak and Ale in Fort Lauderdale where I was working on a golf course with middle aged Cuban immigrants and young African American brothers for $90 a week. I realized that the guy up on stage singing Beatles songs and tapping randomly on a set of white conga drums was making at least twice the money I was and the hours were better.



I left Florida and moved back to Minnesota to get serious about studying conga drumming. I guess it never occurred to me that a massive Cuban population might be a good resource. So, back in Austin I joined my first "serious" band, Dogarama. That band eventually transmuted into a group called Clear. We took Southern Minnesota by storm with an odd mix of English styled pop, reggae and Steely Dan. It was a transforming experience in a number of ways.



I was old enough to successfully grow facial hair and I started shopping at women's clothing stores for my stage wear. The band did a lot of original material, which helped set a course for me. The keyboard player was a gifted composer and we were all contributing to the writing. I got a taste of the satisfaction in creating my own music and the process became a little less mysterious to me. We lived in a "band" house and traveled in a converted blue school bus. I met Roberta, the mother of my children, during that period and learned a little bit about being in love and on the road.



Next stop, Minneapolis / St. Paul where I intended to study music at the University. I didn't have the required reading skills and fortunately wasn't accepted in their program. So, I started joining bands and looking for a teacher. In 1977, just after moving to the Twin Cities, Steve Tibbetts contacted me and invited me to participate in a record he was making. Apparently it was a good match for both of us. Twenty-three years, a few divorces, five kids and eight records later no punches have been thrown and we're still making music together.



Steve was a godsend for me. I was playing in country bands, belly dance troupes, Latin combos, Top 40 bands and fusion groups. All of them an education, as I was perpetually trying to expand the horizon and my skills. But the work I was doing with Steve was by far the most rewarding and compelling. Working with Steve on YR and the following ECM projects, I started seeing composition as a process of rounding up available resources and throwing them against the wall to see what sticks. It was liberating. There were no rules, save for paying attention to our internal compasses. It seemed whatever skills, background, and technology I had, could be enough to make music, with some common sense, attention to detail and at least an aspiration to honesty.



In October of 1981, Steve and I set off for Oslo to do our first recording for ECM. It was the first time out of the country for both of us. We were a little disappointed, after flying for seven hours, to land somewhere that looked so much like Duluth. It was a bit overwhelming for two rubes from the Midwest to be recording at Talent Studios in Norway with Jan Erik Konshaug and the dark and legendary Manfred Eicher. We were pretty sure in our minds that after this we were headed for mega-stardom. While we haven't achieved household word status we do have a loyal following. Our work consistently receives high critical acclaim and we really have made some great records and concerts. Over the past 20 years Steve and I have toured all over Europe and North America. The trip to Oslo also seemed to ignite the fires of wanderlust in both of. Since then, our individual and collective adventures have taken us all over the world.



Encouraged by Steve, and the need to replicate tracks on stage, I began studying tabla drumming with Marcus Wise. Marcus’ teaching has been invaluable to me even though I never went on to play classical Indian music. The concepts and techniques have informed my work in many ways. In 1985 I went back to school. I was thinking about getting a "real" job. Instead I opened myself to a world of more interesting possibilities and found peace with the idea that my deepest passion was for making music. I also met Sowah Mensah, an event that changed my life forever.



Sowah is a master drummer, multi–instrumentalist and composer from Ghana. Not only did I begin my ongoing study of Ghanaian music with Sowah, which has taken me to Ghana three times, but he has also become my closest friend and advisor. My relationship with Sowah and Ghanaian culture has taught me more about respect and dignity and the spiritual possibilities in music than the rest of my life experiences combined. It has quite literally changed the course of my life and my art. I am still trying to learn the music and apply the moral and aesthetic principals so deeply embedded in the tradition. Above all I have learned that music is just that. A chance everyday to come together and express our potential. In recent years I've also had the opportunity to study Haitian drumming with master drummer, John Amira in New York and frame drum styles with the great Glen Velez. I could not possibly express the deep gratitude I have for all of my teachers. For the information they have entrusted me with and for the lessons on living they embody.



Along the way I've continued to keep myself involved in a variety of musical styles and projects. I've recorded on more than 150 records and CDs including my solo CDs, Time Fish (1994) and Ruby (2000). Sowah and I continue working together in the Ghanaian folkloric group, Sankofa, and our new group Speaking in Tongues. I've kept a foot in the free music scene, having had chances to work with Butch Morris, John Devine, Tony Moreno and Don Cherry.



I was a regular on Red House Records for a few years and ended up recording and performing with people like Peter Ostroushko, Claudia Schmidt, Dean Magraw, Dave Moore and Greg Brown. Peter and I are currently working together my group Swallow the Earth. Sowah and I had the great fortune to play with the legendary Max Roach when he came to St. Paul in 1990. It was one of the truly radiant musical moments of my career and it was one of the most profound spiritual teachings I've ever received.



I played in Taj Mahal's band when he came through Minneapolis a few years back and I've done several performances with the Minnesota Orchestra. In 1995 I did sessions for the Robert Fripp and David Sylvian project, First Day. I stumbled into some kind of Scandinavian music scene a couple of years ago, striking up a relationship with Ruth Mackenzie and her Finnish myth music, Kalevala. Since going to Norway to record A, Tibbetts and I have formed a pact with the great Norwegian hardanger fiddlist, Knut Hamre. We did a great show for NYC in Manhattan last February.



I was a member of Barb Cohen’s Little Lizard project until she left for Hollywood and a big time record deal with Virgin. I toured with the marketing phenomenon, Lorie Line for six years. And, I continue to take on performance opportunities and tours as a freelance artist. Eight Head, my collaboration with Dean Magraw and Jim Anton, Came and went without a record but we played some great shows as a trio and with Bruce Kurnow, Steve Tibbetts and Altan.



In the past two years the Chö project has had some success on the road and Tibbetts and I have been touring with Choying Drolma and two other Tibetan Buddhist nuns. Last year I struck up a relationship with Peter Mayer, producing his new CD, Million Year Mind and doing a couple of performances together. I also released a loops library called, Dragon Dance, for Acid with Sonic Foundry.



I engineered and mixed the Speaking in Tongues CD. And, I spent the change of the millennium studying and dancing in Brazil. I currently have three group projects up and running, Speaking in Tongues, Swallow the Earth and a new quartet that hasn't been christened yet. Click on News for more information on these groups and other current projects.



I'm an adjunct professor in the Anthropology department at Hamline University in St. Paul. Unlike any college department I've been around, this one is remarkably free of political infighting, professional backstabbing and all the other petty antics that students end up suffering from. I lead an African drum ensemble and I co-teach an African Cultures class with Cynthia Cone there.



For six years I've led a children's drum ensemble at Mounds Park All Nations Elementary School in St. Paul. I lead several adult drum ensembles and I conduct seminars and workshops for corporations, men’s and women's groups, and teachers.



I've been fortunate to receive a number of awards and grants. Twice I've received Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grants and McKnight Foundation Fellowships. I've also been awarded a State Arts Board Grant and a West Bank School of Music Composers Grant. I've received four Minnesota Music Awards in various categories and was once nominated for Minnesota Artist of the Year.