I am Massimo Cusato, a percussionist and drummer from Calabria, Italy, and I specialize in playing the tamburello combined with drum set. With great passion and a new vision for the traditional tamburello I carry on the rich traditions of my country by utilizing a modern approach to this humble instrument to ensure its sound is not lost to the past.

I am excited at the prospect of being able to share these important traditions with a new generation of musicians, keeping them alive and ensuring their place in music’s future.

In the Workshop I explain my personal approach to the traditional tamburello of my homeland, Calabria, and how I have modernized it to a twenty-first century sound. The versatility of sound that the tamburello is able to produce with various techniques combined with a drum set inspired me to create a wholly new sound: from traditional tarantella, to funk, to R&B, to the shuffle.