ABSTRACT
How do talented musicians from greatly differing cultural backgrounds and musical traditions learn from one another and then go on to make creative contributions to world music? The life stories of two musicians, one from America and the other from Ghana, illustrate how talent combined with determination can overcome obstacles rooted in ascriptive factors of gender and ethnicity. The American, Kay Stonefelt, decided, while in high school, to pursue a professional career as a drummer, despite the odds against a woman percussionist, especially in symphonic orchestras. The Ghanaian is Bernard Woma. A diviner had prophesized at Woma’s birth that he would be a xylophone player. By age five, he was a prodigy. They joined forces at key stages in their careers and have since formed a unique pair of musicians teaching and learning from each other while performing different genres of world music so captivating that audiences are induced to clap, stamp feet, and, invariably, get up and dance.1
