Meet the Drummers & Musicians

Davulcular ve Müzisyenler

Carl Posz

A lifelong musician, Carl’s main musical axe is the bass guitar but that hasn’t stopped him from learning guitar, tar, cajon, doumbek, and davul. Carl has been known to join in our dancing when male Romani and folk dancer roles are called for in troupe choreographies. He collaborates with Omniversal World Jam, Jamulus, and was also a co-founder (with his wife, Kerime) of Oasis Music and Dance, a MN Renaissance Festival favorite in the mid-1980s.

Mark Christianson

Mark began taking hand drumming lessons after his wife Rowena joined Dans Askina as he wanted to drum for his wife at troupe performances. Mark plays doumbek and djembe, and has been known to balance a sword on his head or suddenly start dancing during performances. Mark also serves as Stage Manager for our Rakkas Minneapolis events, and is our primary festival videographer and photographer.

Katrina Dam

Katrina has played music with her husband Eric for many years at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, Omniversal Jam gatherings, and numerous Scottish events. She plays doumbek, metal zills, wooden zills, the bodhran, Appalachian dulcimer, and mandolin.

Eric Dam

Eric began playing the bodhran shortly after joining a Scottish dance class. A chance encounter in college with the local World Music band Boiled in Lead exposed him to a greater array of hand percussion instruments = doumbek, cajon, riq, and spoons. He is also an accomplished mandolin and tenor banjo player. In addition to playing music for Dans Askina, you can find him playing with Uptown on the Lakes Morris Team, Royal Scottish Country Dancers, and the traditional Scottish band the Scotch Eggs.

Carmen Heim

A black Pearl trap set as a ‘good kid’ gift combined with her family’s swing combo lit Carmen’s heart on fire for drums at the age of 11. As she was getting ready to retire from her day job, she tossed her drumsticks to follow the hand drumming plan in her heart. In 2011, Carmen met Amina West, and collaboration between Dans Askina and Carmen’s students and groups began.

Amina West

Amina’s percussion journey began in elementary school, and she’s been happily playing ‘all things percussion’ for over 50 years. Her career as a Turkish dancer and Ensemble Artistic Director keeps her ‘somewhat’ distanced from drumming, but it hasn’t stopped her from amassing a doumbek, tar, bendir, nagara, riq, Turkish spoon, and zill collection while no one was looking. Outside the Middle Eastern percussion world, she sits in with the Omniversal Jammers, Wisdom Dances, and the Merging Waters concert band.