OUR HISTORY

In 1994, Louis Bellemare founded the SAMAJAM Percussion School. Every week, African, Brazilian, Latin percussion and Gumboot percussive dance classes are offered to adults and children. Over the years, the private school has grown into the largest percussion school in Canada, with a large team of teachers and facilitators from diverse cultural backgrounds, welcoming up to 800 participants per week and offering performances on stage and on television.

With extensive business management experience in the entertainment industry, our founder and the Samajam team have combined these two areas of expertise – business knowledge and a passion for collective drumming – to position themselves in a new market: SAMAJAM Team Building. They quickly became leaders in this field. This unique experience offers corporate audiences various percussion instruments to learn quickly and play actively, responding to specific collective challenges. SAMAJAM has produced up to 400 annual productions in this field, in addition to participatory music evenings, drum circles, sporting event entertainment, product launches, and tailor-made shows.

At the same time, SAMAJAM has created several youth projects, including the SAMAJAM School Perseverance Project, which was financially supported by the Montreal International Jazz Festival and various business partners, and has actively involved more than 19,000 children over a six-year period through participatory musical activities in schools, childcare centers, and camps.

A major milestone was the creation of their first full-length school show: Rythmo SAMAJAM, which racked up record-breaking school tours across Canada, not to mention festivals and other major public events.

In 2016, Louis Bellemare settled permanently in Asia, where in 2017 he created an ambitious new youth show for the international touring market: SAMAJAM > YOU are the Show. This innovative production quickly gained immense popularity in China, becoming the most popular foreign show ever presented in that country. The phenomenal success allowed up to six teams of artists to tour the country simultaneously in the following years. The success and enthusiasm surrounding the show acted as catalysts, propelling SAMAJAM > YOU are the Show to embark on world tours, captivating audiences and spreading the joy of participatory music across continents.

SAMAJAM ✩ YOU are the Show is the number one participatory music show on global tour.
This show has already been performed in 10 countries and seen by over 1.1 million people worldwide… and counting!