Biography
Joachim Cooder maintains a dual existence in music, earning recognition as a percussionist through partnerships with numerous esteemed figures in roots and world traditions, even as he steps forward under his own name with the electric mbira serving as his chief tool, an electrified take on the longstanding African thumb piano. Sideman duties have placed him alongside the famed Cuban collective Buena Vista Social Club as well as the innovative Indian string player Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, while his own projects merge folk, blues, and African elements into atmospheric textures that reframe familiar motifs through distinctive instrumental layers. Listeners encounter this approach most clearly on the 2017 EP Fuchsia Machu Picchu and the 2020 album Over That Road I'm Bound.
Born August 23, 1978, in Santa Monica, Cooder grew up with his father, the accomplished guitarist and composer Ry Cooder, whose wide-ranging musical interests shaped the younger musician from childhood onward. Early encouragement came from Ry’s frequent associate Jim Keltner, prompting Joachim to begin drumming at age five. During his teenage years he pursued studies in world percussion at the California Institute of the Arts and soon contributed to his father’s recording sessions.
His first appearance on disc came via dumbek on the 1993 release A Meeting by the River, a joint effort between Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. After lending support to several of his father’s film scores, Joachim joined Ry on a journey to Cuba that produced the 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club, featuring veteran local musicians previously little known outside the island. The project achieved worldwide success, leading Joachim to tour with the ensemble and to record separately with Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Eliades Ochoa, and Compay Segundo.
Early in the following decade he emerged as bandleader of the forward-looking Latin outfit Radio Bemba and later established the wide-ranging alternative rock group Hello Stranger, whose vocalist Juliette Commagere later married him and benefited from his production on her 2008 solo album Queens Die Proudly. While continuing to supply percussion for an array of rock, jazz, and global artists, he also began adapting the Zimbabwean mbira into an amplified, contemporary instrument.
His debut full-length, the atmospheric 2012 album Love on a Real Train, incorporated contributions from Jon Hassell, Petra Haden, and Matt Costa. Film scoring followed for the documentaries Spark: A Burning Man Story (2013), Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo (2014), and Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story (2017). A second solo outing arrived in 2017 with the seven-track EP Fuchsia Machu Picchu. After signing with Nonesuch Records, he issued his first project for the label, 2020’s Over That Road I'm Bound, which offered new readings of material originally associated with pioneering Appalachian banjo stylist Uncle Dave Macon.
Born August 23, 1978, in Santa Monica, Cooder grew up with his father, the accomplished guitarist and composer Ry Cooder, whose wide-ranging musical interests shaped the younger musician from childhood onward. Early encouragement came from Ry’s frequent associate Jim Keltner, prompting Joachim to begin drumming at age five. During his teenage years he pursued studies in world percussion at the California Institute of the Arts and soon contributed to his father’s recording sessions.
His first appearance on disc came via dumbek on the 1993 release A Meeting by the River, a joint effort between Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. After lending support to several of his father’s film scores, Joachim joined Ry on a journey to Cuba that produced the 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club, featuring veteran local musicians previously little known outside the island. The project achieved worldwide success, leading Joachim to tour with the ensemble and to record separately with Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Eliades Ochoa, and Compay Segundo.
Early in the following decade he emerged as bandleader of the forward-looking Latin outfit Radio Bemba and later established the wide-ranging alternative rock group Hello Stranger, whose vocalist Juliette Commagere later married him and benefited from his production on her 2008 solo album Queens Die Proudly. While continuing to supply percussion for an array of rock, jazz, and global artists, he also began adapting the Zimbabwean mbira into an amplified, contemporary instrument.
His debut full-length, the atmospheric 2012 album Love on a Real Train, incorporated contributions from Jon Hassell, Petra Haden, and Matt Costa. Film scoring followed for the documentaries Spark: A Burning Man Story (2013), Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo (2014), and Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story (2017). A second solo outing arrived in 2017 with the seven-track EP Fuchsia Machu Picchu. After signing with Nonesuch Records, he issued his first project for the label, 2020’s Over That Road I'm Bound, which offered new readings of material originally associated with pioneering Appalachian banjo stylist Uncle Dave Macon.
Albums
Singles
Live
