COMPOSER / ARRANGER
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST / PRODUCER
Michelle Welchons is a percussionist, composer, arranger, and producer from North Carolina, USA, currently based in Paris. With a foundation rooted in the rhythms of the African diaspora, her music blends European classical music, Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban rumba, West African traditions, and contemporary world fusion—though she resists the ambiguity of genre labels like “world music.”
Michelle’s path as a musician is guided by deep study, cultural immersion, and a commitment to honoring traditional forms while creating something distinctly her own. Her musical journey began in childhood with classical piano and continued through years of playing in school ensembles as well as in church, where she first developed a deep connection to ensemble playing and musical expression. That early training laid the groundwork for the complex sensibility that now defines her work. After living as a nomad in South America for several years, she began her percussion journey playing for West African dancers. She currently studies Afro-Cuban music with renowned percussionists Machito Crespo, Tito Belén, and Adriano Brizuela, and makes annual trips to Cuba for cultural and musical exploration. Her studies in West African percussion under Amo Soumah further inform her dynamic approach to rhythm. She is equally at home on congas, cajón, djembe, riq, and a variety of traditional percussion instruments, drawing from a wide rhythmic vocabulary.
She has performed, recorded, and toured with artists such as Munir Hossn, Maqueque, Yusa, Mariama Ndure, Cyrille Aimee, Gabrielle Cavassa, Ryan Hanseler, Mahmoud Chouki, Handmade Moments, Weedie Braimah, Corelai, Danielle Ryce, and The Trumpet Mafia. Her two albums, Introspection and Flickering Lights, feature all-original music composed, arranged, and produced by Michelle, and reflect a sound that is both grounded in tradition and constantly evolving.
For Michelle, rhythm is more than musical structure; it is memory, medicine, and movement. She approaches rhythm as a spiritual and cultural force, a language that connects, heals, and illuminates. Through her work, she explores how traditional music holds timeless wisdom, offering pathways to presence, transformation, and deeper understanding.
Michelle has performed at the Mindelo Jazz Festival (Cape Verde), Marian’s Jazz Room (Bern), Recontres Orient Occident (Sierre), Salon Jazzowy (Warsaw), le Cheval Blanc (Schiltigheim), Sala Villanos (Madrid), Dazz Jazz Festival (Bilbao), the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Snug Harbor (New Orleans), and the New Orleans Museum of Art. She currently lives and tours in Europe.
Michelle Welchons 