Biography

Ty Burhoe was born on February 28, 1964 in Worcester, Massachusetts and was raised in Chicago. From the age of six, Ty's training in the arts was supported by his father Brian Burhoe, a performing classical musician. His studies included violin, trombone, guitar, and voice, as well as an intensive focus on sculpting and painting. He had a deep love for the out doors and the many faceted arts of fishing, camping, and outdoor survival, which kept him immersed in nature for most of his younger years. In high school Ty became involved in Gymnastics and by age 18 was sought after by several universities as a competitive gymnast. However, Ty had also been working as a lakes and grounds manager of a Forest Preserve over the previous 10 years and took a scholarship in Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana. For the next several years, Ty worked as a Wildlife Biologist for BLM, Forest Service, Fish and Game Service, and the Border Grizzly Project. Throughout this period Ty learned the arts of tracking and collaring Grizzly Bears, repopulation research for the beaver in NW Montana, and other skills related to protecting the Osprey, Mountain Lion, and back-country survival. During that time Ty began an apprenticeship with a Native American Cree Elder (medicine man). His apprenticeship continued for over 11 years, and included a wide array of ceremonies ranging from Sweat Lodge and Pipe to Vision Quest and Sundance. The experiences and ceremonies born from that time continue to be a deeply transforming force in his life.

In his early 20's Ty moved to the mountains of Boulder, Colorado to raise his son as a single father and complete a college degree in Cognitive Studies, Counseling, and Martial Arts (Aikido) at the Naropa University. His mentor and main Aikido teacher, Bob Wing, helped him develop an inclusive attitude towards all of his many interests, and music naturally arose. Ty felt that his weakest talent was rhythm and with the help of his first drum teacher, Geoff Johns, he happened across the tabla while listening to the band Shakti. Ty was already in an Afro-Cuban dance band and in a Balinese ensemble but after hearing the sound of the tabla, there was no mistaking the connection. It was the perfect combination of melody and intense rhythm. For the next year Ty learned tabla basics from Geoff Johns, tabla composition from Jeffery Rodgers (student of Ustad Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain), and instrumental accompaniment from sarode player David Trasoff (disciple of the great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and the one responsible for arranging Ty's first meeting with Zakir).

In 1990, Ty was introduced to the great tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and it was love at first sight. Ty would drive 1,400 miles on a regular basis for his one hour lessons, then turn around, and drive home. Over the next five years, Ty lived in an old mountain cabin continuing his Native American studies, deepening his tabla practice, and raising his son Shaun. Ty began recording and performing right from the beginning out of sheer enthusiasm, and any artistic situation was free game, poetics, dance, parties, restaurants, and music of any kind. Ty was blessed to meet his main Gurubai (co-student), Dr. Michael Lewis, in 1991. Michael had been a tabla student of Zakir Hussain and Alla Rakha since the 1970's. Whenever Ty was in California studying, Michael invited him into his home and generously shared his knowledge of tabla and openhearted vision of music. In 1994 Ty began producing concerts so that he could host Zakir in his home town, Boulder CO. Ty learned concert production on his own, in other words "the school of hard knocks" (it is a very difficult business.) Despite many losses, he continued producing world music concerts for other artists as well as Zakir, because of his desire to be surrounded with the music he loved as well as to learn all the subtle details of the business. So finally in 2004, after 11 years of producing, Ty opened "Tala Productions" (previously Burhoe Productions) and "Tala Records" (previously Owl Records). These home-spun companies are designed to produce CDs, projects and tours presented by the many artists with whom Ty is involved: Ustad Zakir Hussain, Art Lande, Krishna Das, Kai Eckhardt, Curandero (Miguel Espinoza), Ustad Sultan Khan, Bela Fleck, Howard Levy, Anindo Chatterjee, Steve Gorn, Roshan Bhartiya, Bill Douglas, Rick Alan, Tony Furtado, Kitaro, Mamadou Diabate and many more.

There are a couple of other key teachers that Ty has had the honor of studying and playing with. The brilliant improvisational pianist, Art Lande, has been one of Ty's dearest and most profound influences. They have worked together since 1992, exploring the nature of improvisation, expression and collaboration. Ustad Sultan Khan accepted Ty as a student of sarangi (a beautiful 38-stringed, bowed instrument) in 1994 and their relationship has had a deep impact upon his understanding of not only Indian Classical music, but of the deeper spiritual experience of sound (Nada). Ty has had the honor of playing Sarangi to accompany many tabla solo concerts including; Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Anaradha Pal and Katak dance with his own Guru, Zakir Hussain, and Antonia Minnecola. Another important figure in Ty's training has been Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. Ty began producing and hosting Mr. Chatterjee around 1998 and (with his Gugru's permission) spent some intensive time studying tabla over several years.

In the last few years Ty has begun touring more frequently with various artists and is on the road up to 80% of the year. He is also the North American tour assistant for his teacher, Zakir Hussain; a versatile job involving concert production, sound board engineering, repairing/maintaining instruments, playing tamboura and managing the artists. Ty also designs specialized hand drums, percussion racks and instrument tour cases for various artists including Zakir Hussain, Anindo Chatterjee, Vikku Vinayakram etc.. Ty's wife, Amy Ippoliti, is one of the nation's top Anusara yoga instructors and together, they are developing a series of retreats and workshops combining the practices of Anusara Yoga and Indian Drumming. These intensives are hosted all over the U.S. as well as Costa Rica, Mexico, Italy Holland, Spain etc. His son Shaun (18 years old) is the youngest member of the US Telemark Ski Team. Last year (his second year ever of skiing and first year of racing) Shaun won the American National Championships and the U.S. hosted World Cup. Shaun has also learned the art of tabla from his father and is a talented mandolin player. In his infrequent spare time, Ty is designing a custom series of tunable frame drums, specialized wooden cahon drums and other hand percussion. Currently, Ty lives in the Boulder CO area where he is working on film/video projects, tours and recordings with a wide array of artists.