WALTER MCLEAN was born in Germany to a Ghanaian father and a German Mother. He studied percussion, congas and bongos, traditional hand drums and fusion-drum kit with renown musicians Nippy Noya in Holland, Adja Addy in Ghana and Rick Gratton in Toronto. He toured and recorded throughout Europe with groups such as Black Gospel Pearls, Oloye, Tony Hurdle Septet and more while he was living in Berlin. In 1995 Walter came to Canada where he was able to perform, record and tour with a variety of artists from different genre’s such as jazz, blues, reggae, funk and traditional African music. He has performed at various festivals such as the African Guitar Summit, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the Hillside Festival and with bands such as KoboTown, Donne Robert and Tikisa, Laura Hubert, Kingsley Etienne Trio, Dave West Group, Thriller Canada Tribute Band, Madagascar Slim and more. Walter also played traditional African music for dance companies and groups such as Ballet Creole, COBA, Lua Shayenne Dance Company, Newton Moraes, Alpha Rhythm Roots, Amadou Kienou and more. Since 2014, Walter has also worked and collaborated with the “wind in the leaves collectives “ on numerous projects. Walter teaches percussion workshops in schools and drumkit at the “Awesome Academy of Music” in Toronto.​  

---