Verna GillisGillis has a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology and taught at both Brooklyn College and Carnegie Mellon. She did field work recording music in Peru, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Ghana and Cuba. Twenty-seven albums of these recordings re available on Smithsonian Folkways. In 1979 she opened SOUNDSCAPE, the first multi cultural performance space and producing organization in NYC. She was the first US presenter of African Pop in 1983 bringing King Sunny Ade from Nigeria which the NY Times called the pop event of the decade. At different times she managed the careers of Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, Yomo Toro, Carlinhos Brown, and Roswell Rudd. Read More Read Less