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 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 bands, where she first developed a deep connection to rhythm and ensemble playing. That early training laid the groundwork for the complex rhythmic sensibility that now defines her work. She currently studies Afro-Cuban percussion with renowned percussionists Machito Crespo and Tito Belén and makes annual trips to Cuba for cultural and musical exploration. Her studies in West African percussion under Amo Soumah further inform her dynamic and layered 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 and toured with artists such as Munir Hossn, Maqueque, Mahmoud Chouki, Yusa, Weedie Braimah, Cyrille Aimée, and The Trumpet Mafia. Her two albums, Introspection and Flickering Lights, feature all-original music—composed, arranged, and produced by her—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), 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 