Drum and Sing *with Ríomas* ASHEVILLE

Join Ríomas for a drum and rhythm skill-building workshop rooted in lineage, rising to meet our moment, and weaving in our voices!

You may be interested in drumming for ceremony, song circles, or street actions. You may be interested in drumming for personal healing or just the joy of it. In this workshop, you will be given the tools, understanding, and confidence to make steps toward whatever your calling with rhythm may be. Our approach will be soulful and playful as we grow our musical selves with integrity and grace.

During our time we will...

• Reflect on how to engage rhythm with cultural respect and integrity

• Inspire a drumming practice as an act self-care and spirit connection

• Develop basic technique for two main tones on our drums

• Learn accessible rhythms & songs (no experience needed)

• Build confidence offering rhythm in support of our communities

• Jam in free-form ways for trance and play

Whether you're picking up a drum for the first time or deepening an existing relationship, come to enliven rhythm in your life as a practice of joy, remembrance, resilience, and showing up for one another.

No drumming experience is required. All levels welcome. Singing is not expected, but encouraged!

Bring a drum if you have one (or more than one if you have to share). Drums that use our hands - two-handed, single-handed, and single mallet drums - are welcome. And a drum is not required. We will provide some you can borrow, or you can use your body or a found object.

This offering is geared toward adults but youth ages 6 and over are welcome with adult supervision at all times.

Thanks to local co-organizer Maayan Greenheart!

**SPECIFIC LOCATION ADDRESS & PARKING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE REVEALED UPON REGISTRATION**

Evening flow:

Arrive and settle in: 5:30-6pm

Drumming: 6-8pm

Cost:

Regular Ticket: $30-60 sliding scale

Youth Ticket (ages 6-17): $15 >> enter Access Code: YOUTH

Pay what you can option available. Contact host.

BIPOC* Scholarship available. Contact host.

*Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (including mixed race)

Land and people acknowledgment:

This event is taking place on the original lands of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, ᏗᎧᎸᎦ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ (di-ka-lv-ga A-ni-yv-wi-ya) -- the Principle People of the East.

Accessibility: 

ADA accessibility will depend on whether we hold our event outside or inside (to be determined). Outside has wheelchair access, inside does not. Please contact host if you have this accessibility need.

What will be provided:

Water

Composting toilet

Some Chairs

What to bring:

A drum (if you can)

A chair (if you can)

A water bottle

Any cushions and layers to help your body feel comfortable

Ríomas (RiYo for short, they/them), previously known as Shireen Amini, is a queer, trans masculine, Puerto Rican-Iranian artist, facilitator, and culture builder based in Portland, Oregon*. Creating at the intersection of music, healing, and activism, they are guided by a belief that music, especially voice and rhythm, can reawaken in us what modern culture has forgotten: how to grieve, grow, and feel our power together. Ríomas crafts artful, participatory songs that invite realness, tenderness, joy, and transformative energy, drawing from roots, pop and folk textures, respectfully from Black and Afro-Latin lineages. Through their song circles and educational offerings, Ríomas empowers people to trust their musicality and engage music as a living practice for cultural healing and social change. They are the founder of Sing People Sing!, a queer and BIPOC-led community song circle series in Portland, author of the course Drum Song Reclamation, and leader of an emerging band collective bridging high-level musicianship with community participation. Their first community song album Gather Your Resilience: Medicine for Liberation is set to release in March 2026.

Ríomas received their B.A. in Ethnomusicology at UCLA with a focus in Afro-Latin percussion and in 2005, studied abroad in Cusco, Perú where they learned how to play the Afro-Peruvian cajón. Since, Ríomas has also studied drum circle facilitation with Arthur Hull, received a certificate in Sound, Voice, and Music Healing from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and studied Puerto Rican pandero and plena music with Adrian(a) Santoni. They have over 20 years of experience as an accompanying percussionist and in facilitating youth and adult drumming groups. Most importantly, for over a decade, Ríomas has developed their own experiential practice of drumming for trauma healing, energy cleansing, and access to spiritual insight. They are honored to share their knowledge and skills and invite deepened connection to the drum as it may serve others on their own path toward healing and liberation.

*the original territory of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, Grande Ronde and many more tribes