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Jim Donovan: Biography
When Jim Donovan was seven years old, he received from his grandmother a small drum made of a recycled coffee can and heard in it an eternal calling, a path to the rest of his life. He devoted himself to walking its terrain, and passed along the way small but important milestones -- at age twelve, a drumming corps invited him to crash cymbals, at fourteen, he fought for, and won, the rights to the kit in the high school band. Upon initial application denial at the University of Pittsburgh Jim was permitted to enroll only after completing an entrance audition in front of the school's music department chairman. Fortunately, he played well that day.
The primitive howl he heard in that coffee can was evolving into a divine whisper, one that sent him into the University’s classical music program and into the waiting arms of those with whom he would create Rusted Root. Over the past fifteen years Rusted Root has made millions of people all over the globe dance, smile and sweat.  They have sold in excess of three million recordings, made countless trips around North America where they were blessed to share the stage with such Rock and Roll legends as Santana, Page and Plant, Sting, Dave Matthews Band, The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead and many others. They have appeared on numerous national TV shows, including MTV, FX, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, VH-1’s Hard Rock Live and the CBS Morning Show. Their music has been featured on numerous television shows as well as major motion films such as Ice Age, Mathilda, Twister and the PBS Web of Life Documentary.
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On his own, Donovan has released 3 solo CDs as well as 4 instructional drumming CDs. He has also recorded with with Triloka recording artist Krishna Das on his highly acclaimed CD “Live on Earth.” Donovan's most recent CD, Revelation #9, was nominated for the 2004 Electronica Album of the Year by Just Plain Folks Songwriters organization.
Fulfilling his desire to share the power of rhythm first hand to people, Donovan has built a series of educational drumming workshop programs that he teaches across the US at universities, festivals, schools, corporations and specialty venues.  He is an instructor at Saint Francis University and is the current director of drumming at the New York Institute of Dance and Education. He is a featured columnist in Drum! Magazine, the worlds number one drumming magazine. He was nominated for “Best Rock Pop Percussionist” in the 2004 Drum! Magazine Readers poll.
2005 and 2006 finds Donovan expanding his musical world into two new performance projects: the highly acclaimed Drum the Ecstatic International Tour and The Drummer and the Dancer International Tour. Donovan's two new live performance shows continue to break new ground as they combine world class musicians from all over the globe, astonishing choreographed dance and multimedia.
Donovan's current media projects due out in 2006 are a full length Drum the Ecstatic International CD, Jim's first instructional djembe DVD titled Rhythmic Foundation, and The Yoga of Drum and Chant Meditation CD.
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