ThisWorldMusic

About ThisWorldMusic

Founder/Director Jeremy Cohen

ThisWorldMusic was founded by Boston-based percussionist and educator Jeremy Cohen. A California native, he graduated with a B.A. in music from U.C. Berkeley, where he studied traditional Ewe drumming with Ghanaian Master Drummer C.K. Ladzepko. Awarded the Alfred M. Hertz Traveling Fellowship to study composition in New York City, he went on to attend the New England Conservatory of Music where he earned a master's degree in jazz composition.

Mr. Cohen continued his Ewe drumming studies in Ghana under the Agbeli brothers and was a member of the Agbekor Drum & Dance Society of Boston, an ensemble led by David Locke of Tufts University.

A passionate educator, Mr. Cohen designed and implemented a comprehensive African drumming curriculum at the Umana Middle School, located in inner city East Boston, MA. As the school's Music Director, he also established a multi-genre guitar program and set up a fully integrated music technology lab.

In 2008, he founded ThisWorldMusic, an organization dedicated to bringing the joy and power of African drumming to schools nationwide. He has led professional development workshops for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory and school districts around the country, including Memphis, TN; Providence, RI; Oakland, CA; and Worcester, MA.

Still active in the classroom, he works with incarcerated youth through the non-profit Unlocking the Light. He has taught at the Boston Arts Academy Performing Arts High School and is currently Adjunct Professor at Central CT State University (graduate level), University of Southern Maine (graduate level), Westfield State College and UMass Amherst (graduate level), where he also leads cultural field study courses to Ghana, West Africa.

Mr. Cohen sits on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts chapter of Young Audiences. He is a consultant for the School District of Philadelphia and for MusicianCorps, a project of the Music National Service initiative. He lives in Cambridge, MA, where he continues to compose, teach, and drum.

B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.M., New England Conservatory. Composition studies with Lee Hyla, Bob Brookmeyer, Ken Schaphorst. Percussion studies with Emmanuel Agbeli, C.K. Ladzepko, Jerry Leake.