Vicky Jassey is a scholar, musician, educator, and cultural organiser dedicated to the study and performance of Afro-Cuban music and culture. She is the founder and artistic director of Bombo Productions, an organisation that has supported Afro-Cuban music and education in the UK since 2007 together with her partner, David Pattman. Vicky holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Cardiff University and a Master’s degree in Performance from SOAS University of London. As an independent researcher affiliated with Florida International University, she developed The Bearers of Sacred Sound, an oral-history project documenting Miami’s community of ritual batá drummers.
Vicky has taught, presented, and lectured internationally and has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard University (2021), University of Florida, University of Miami and University of Exeter, sharing her research on Afro-Cuban music, batá drumming, gender, sexuality, religion, and cultural change in Cuba.
Specialising in Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions, Vicky works as a singer, percussionist, teacher, and researcher. She is co-director, lead singer, and percussionist with Coro de Clave – Cuban Harmony Choir, which runs ensembles and retreats in both the UK and Spain. She is also the founder of Moving Voices UK, a project that offers group singing and creative support for female survivors of human trafficking.
Within Afro-Cuban religious traditions, Vicky is a ritual singer in Tambor de Fundamento, Güiro, and Cajón de Muerto ceremonies, bringing lived musical practice into dialogue with her academic work. Alongside her partner, percussionist David Pattman, she co-runs Finca Ará Oko, a creative retreat space in the mountains of southern Spain that hosts international workshops and residencies focused on Afro-Cuban music, cultural exchange, and community learning.
In November 2026, Vicky published her first book, Anywhere But Home, a memoir drawing on her experiences of growing up in care, leaving home at eighteen and travelling through Europe and North Africa. Written over six years, the book explores questions of identity, memory, freedom and belonging.
Selected Publications
- The Voice of Añá in Mexico — Smithsonian Folklife
- The Rise of Female Batá Drummers — Smithsonian Folklife
- The Bearers of Sacred Sound — FIU Cuban Research Institute
- Tambor Reverberations: Gender, Sexuality and Change in Cuban Batá Performance – PhD Research
Selected Discography
- Coro de Clave – ” Madre de Auga” – Vocals and percussion
https://youtu.be/bj6LAVvJMvo?si=FL8COX3m2yiAMC-A - Sunlightsquare – percussion
https://open.spotify.com/track/2KM6aPVtfko9nmT9CNKCeu - Dilanga – Vocals and percussion
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7wy9TTspzXvK1Qbwi66YRz - Ink and Echoes – “4 am” – Vocals
https://open.spotify.com/album/2DBxZ9wbW72wy8xxq250OC
