Philippe Lonergan - Percussionist - Biography

After several years of learning the guitar, the drums and percussion as an autodidact, Philippe joined the Afro-Brazilian percussion band, Zuruba, in 2002. He became familiar with the rhythms and instruments of the Brazilian batucada and learned to conduct a large percussion ensemble. Philippe was one of the Zuruba conductors and also a professor for the school associated to the band. Meanwhile, he studied tombak (traditional Iranian drum), the darbuka and frame drums with Ziya Tabassian (Constantinople, Ensemble Caprice, Liu Fang, etc.). He nevertheless continues his autodidact studies assiduously. In 2006, Philippe lives 7 months in Brazil to complete his training on various Brazilian musical traditions and teach Arabic percussion. Philip has also taught percussion at the private secondary school Villa Maria for 5 years. He founded the group Maria Super Metal, wich merges improvised percussion on found objects and traditional songs from various countries. He also founded the Adrar duo with kora player Estelle Lavoie wich blends African melodies and Middle-Eastern rhythms. Philippe is familiar with the tombak methods of Hossein Tehrani and Bahman Rajabi, the Egyptian darbuka and the new Turkish techniques. He is also familiar with the pandeiro technique of Marcos Suzanno. He also composed music for dance and theater. From July 3, 2009 to November 11, 2009 he lived in India in the state of Kerala to study the mridangam (percussion instrument of the classical tradition of South India, Carnatic music) with the master Sri Subhash Chengannur, a disciple of the great master Sri Karaikkudi R. Mani. There, he also studied Carnatic vocals. He was one of very few westerners to accompany singers on the mridangam at festivals in Hindu temples. Philippe is also an actor and dancer, and holds a BA in acting from the Superior School of Theater at UQAM.