Randy McIntosh, Music Director
marimba, mbira, drumming

Randy is Kutandara Center's music director. Randy graduated from Colorado State University in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in music, and from the University of Colorado in 1996 with a master's degree in music composition. Randy's love of Zimbabwean music inspired him to write and arrange his own Shona-style compositions. Randy is the Center’s composer and musical visionary.

Randy has taught at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State University, New Vista High School, and the Colorado School of the Arts. Randy has performed with Jambo Drummers, Ukama, and Chimanimani. He, with his partner Amy Stewart, founded Kutandara Center in 1999. He currently directs and performs with Kutandara and Mhuri and co-directs Shamwari, Tamba!, Vana Vedu and Project Rugare.

Amy Stewart, Program Director
marimba, hosho, singing

Amy is Kutandara Center's program director. Amy began studying African music in 1994 with master instructors both from Zimbabwe and the United States. Amy is adept at many African instruments, but especially loves marimba and hosho (gourd rattles) and plays both with style and grace.

Amy comes from a management background, having coordinated many environmental and educational projects for non-profit organizations and state and county governments. Amy has an amazing ability to organize ideas, people and things and spends much time at the Center doing so. Amy reminds students and instructors alike that music is not only about notes and rhythms, but about relationships among people working together toward a common goal.

Amy has performed with Ukama, Chimanimani, and the Low-Flying Knobs. She, with her partner Randy McIntosh, founded Kutandara Center in 1999. She currently performs with Kutandara and Mhuri and Project Rugare and co-directs Shamwari, Tamba!, Vana Vedu and Project Rugare.

Diane Covington, Office Staff

Diane is our newest staff member! She brings a love of music and a diverse administrative background to our office.  Her resourcefulness and creativity are talents well-suited to working with students and staff at Kutandara Center.  Diane considers herself a jack of all trades and is willing to take on almost any job she's given!  After raising three children, she's delighted to be a grandmother to two sweet souls.

Ashley Crutchfield, Instructor
marimba

Ashley loves playing marimba, hosho, mbira and singing. She has been studying with Randy McIntosh, Kutandara Center Music Director, since his first group marimba class in 2000. She has studied mbira with Sekuru Cosmas Magaya, singing with Ambuya Beauler Dyoko, and additional marimba work with visiting artists such as Paul Mataruse. She was an original member of the Center's student perfromance class Musangano and currently plays with the Center's school performance group Mhuri and serves as a substitute when needed with Kutandara. Teaching is Ashley's way to give back to the community all that has been given to her over the years. When Ashley is not playing music, she enjoys her day job as an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist.

Jonathan Davis, Instructor
youth drumming and dance

Jonathan Davis is an arts educator who has been living and working in Boulder, Colorado since 2000. Since graduating from the Colorado College with a B.A. in Theater and Dance, Jonathan has worked in a variety of educational settings as a dancer, actor, musician and director. He is the co-founder and former co-director of Express Your Self dance studio, where he taught creative dance for kids of all ages. Jonathan brings a broad range of pedagogy and techniques to his teaching including Waldorf Philosophy, Co-creative Performance and Mythic Storytelling. His mentors include Sage Hamilton, Melissa Michaels, Abdoul Doumbia, Fara Tolno, Catherine Hunziker, and Scott Mast. His primary goal is to enliven the next generation of leaders through embodied creativity and inspired self-expression.

Abdoul Doumbia, Instructor
drumming

Abdoul Doumbia is an exceptional master drummer from Mali, West Africa, who was brought to the US by Brown University in 1991, to participate in their African Dance Program. His formal drumming education began at age six with a sixteen-year apprenticeship to the honorable master drummer, Moriba Keita. For eight years, Abdoul was the lead drummer with the 47-member professional national drum and dance troupe Babemba of Mali. Abdoul now resides in Boulder and teaches djembe and djun-djun drum classes, while also performing all over the country. He is the co-founder, with Karen Marx, of the Mali Assistance Project, founded in 1999 to provide famine relief and water solutions in his home village of Foutaka Zambougou, Mali. With the expansion of Kutandara Center’s studio facilities, Abdoul now offers his popular classes through the Center.

Austin Fracchia, Instructor
marimba

As a musician, Austin’s experience started with singing “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog” in diapers when he was two. Growing up, Austin explored various styles of music through singing, piano, guitar, and ultimately marimba. He has had the privilege of performing with many artists and bands, including Musha Marimba, Zivanai Masango, Tendai Muparutsa, Kurai Blessings Mubaiwa, and Chris Berry's Panj-Orchestra. 

Austin currently performs with Kutandara Marimba Experience. Since his first class in 2007, marimba has been Austin’s launch pad for learning, performing, and composing Shona music and other styles.

Austin’s teaching philosophy centers around utilizing individual learning styles in order to help the student learn effectively. In addition to teaching the music, Austin emphasizes the development of healthy technique and concepts that makes music easier to learn and more fun to play. Most importantly, Austin encourages the development of musical creativity within the individual student and the greater musical community.

Amy Leigh Gosch, Office Staff

Amy is currently a senior at University of Colorado, completing a degree in biology. Able to leap tall building in a single bound, Amy Leigh can solve almost any problem a student might have . . . 

Jesse Larson, Instructor
marimba

Jesse Larson fell in love with Zimbabwean marimba music when she first attended Kamp Kutandara at the age of eleven, and has been an  avid marimba player ever since. She is currently a member of the  performing bands Tamba!, Musha Marimba, and Kutandara. Over the last  two years she has been an assistant teacher in beginner classes and  the youth groups Shumba and Vana Vedu, where her warm personality and  ability to relate with students has made her well known around the  Center. She has also been a counselor at Kamp Kutandara for several  years where she motivated and encouraged young participants in their  musical endeavors.

Jesse loves teaching almost as much as performing, and works well with students of all ages and musical levels. Her love for this music permeates all she does.

Karen Marx, Instructor
drumming

Karen has been a student of Abdoul Doumbia, master drummer from Mali, West Africa, since 1998 and has performed with him in many venues. She has made six trips to Mali, three of which were to study drumming and African dance. Karen has taught djembe drumming classes since 2000 and plays Zimbabwean-style marimba music with the group Chimanimani. She is the founder and executive director of The Mali Assistance Project, assisting the rural village of Zambougou, Mali, with famine relief and digging wells to provide clean drinking water.

Robyn Morgan, Instructor
marimba

As a career educator and now as a marimba instructor, Robyn Morgan holds the unshakeable belief that everyone can learn to play the marimba regardless of their age or musical background. Her own experiences have shown her that it is impossible to fail when playing this forgiving, sturdy instrument in the company of an instructor and learning partners who never give up on themselves or each other.  She respects the diversity that each student brings to class and value their opinions regarding class content and flow.

As a student, teacher, and performer, she finds that the fun and teamwork involved in playing marimba leads to a community spirit that enriches her life and the lives of those who hear the music.  If you like to laugh and learn and sway to the beat…..then you will not be alone in any class where Robyn is teaching.