Gerald Achee was born in
St. James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital
Port of Spain. He was introduced to the traditional
Afro-Caribbean music at an early age. Achee started his artistic career as a
limbo-dancer. Later he began to play
djembe. In 1969 Gerald Achee founded the
free improvisation percussion band Village Drums of Freedom. From 1970 until 1980 he travelled with his ensemble and a group of dancers through Europe, South America and US and then finally settled in
Brooklyn,
NY. His band grew bigger and now consists of more than a hundred drummers all over the world. Every year Village Drums of Freedom plays a leading part in the
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. In 2003 Gerald Achee and VDOF released an album
Historic Travel: cultural rhythms. In 2009 he recorded an album
Three Neighbours with
Perry Robinson and Joel Chassan. And in the same year –
Night Train For Lovers And Thieves with the Gypsy Groovz Orchestra, which was nominated to the Best Album of 2009 in
World music on BBC. Gerald Achee was a member of the
Rastafari movement. == Style ==