Kevin Nathaniel

My name is Kevin Nathaniel and I was born in Detroit, Michigan, which is Motown, a musical mecca. Growing up in Detroit I heard music everywhere, but I didn’t think I was going to play music because there were so many incredible musicians around at the time and I didn’t think I could do what they were doing. It wasn’t until I was practically out of college where I had some experiences listening to music coming out of Africa, and something told me I need to play music, I need to start playing, I had to start learning and get involved with instruments and making instruments. So the first instruments I got involved with playing and making were mbiras, aka kalimbas. I started building and playing these instruments and that was a path for me. From there I began to learn more about other instruments. I played many different instruments throughout my reach so far, but it started out with what sort of door opened when I got involved with mbira music and especially mbira music out of Southern Africa and Zimbabwe which took me into all sorts of other kinds of music. So that's where I started. Check out Kevin’s personal website at kevinnathaniel.com