Halen WOO Chan What Ning

Born in Madagascar and grew up in Hong Kong. Halen began his music study with guitar and followed by West African and Cuban music.

Since 2010, Halen visited Cuba several times to learn from “LALI” Raul Gonzalez Brito, Francisco ”Frank” Oropesa “El Matador”, Degoberto Sacerio Oliva etc. From 2013, Halen made regular visits to Japan to learn African music and dance with different experts such as Hiroki Murai, Lamine Traore, Laoulaou Bangoura and Yoshihide Nishiyama. He has been learning African dance from Rumiko Fuji and Takada Shinobu, and received the Dance Instructor Certificate from Tam Tam Mandingue Djembe Academy (TTMDA) in 2019.

In 2014, Halen performed with the well-known Gekidan Africa in their annual show “Carnival” in Fukuoka, Japan. He is honored to be invited to become a member of the Gekidan Africa.

Halen is one of the founders of "ONE Harmony Drumming Factory", an African music group formed in 2012. It is an active local performing group, significant performances including Imagine Peace, Africa Soul Party, AECOM Fun Day, Hong Kong street music, Freespace Happening, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Lunch Time Music Platform, World Cultures Festival: Vibrant Africa Opening reception etc. Recently, ONE Harmony Drumming Factory was interviewed by ViuTV in their music programme called “Put Your Hands Up”. Invited by Instituto Cultural de Macau, Halen was a speaker of “Journey into African Music” at the Macao Arts Festival in 2019.

Apart from playing as a percussionist of "Banda Orbita", an Afro Cuban Jazz group in Hong Kong, Halen is an active percussionist playing with different musicians and ensemble. Halen also teaches in different schools and organizations as an African and Cuban music and guitar instructor. He conducts workshops about Cuban music by invitation.

Source: Museek Studio
Drip Music