Valerie Naranjo

Valerie Naranjo (born October 10, 1958), is an American percussionist, vocalist, musicologist, and educator known for her association with the Saturday Night Live Band.

A touring musician who has played and arranged for numerous Broadway productions, Valerie has composed for dance and film, and other music in the “world music” category. She created transcriptions of gyil music for western marimbaX, and produced gyil concerti with orchestra, wind ensemble, string quartet, and percussion ensemble. Naranjo was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2011 and was named World Music Percussionist of the Year in 2005 and 2008 and Mallet Percussionist of the Year in 2012 by Drum! magazine reader poll.

Starting her university studies at the University of Colorado, she took a class with a Ghanaian doctoral student and first learned of the West African gyil.

She also freelanced and built connections in a wide and active group of musicians in the city that led to work with such artists as David Byrne, the Paul Winter Consort, Tori Amos, Airto Moreira, to such as touring Europe with The Philip Glass Ensemble between 1988 and 1993. Other performance experience from the first half of the 1990s included work with The Native American Women’s group Pura Fe and Richard Barone.

From 1988 until 2019 Valerie spent 30 summers studying and performing in Ghana.

After working on the productions The Tempest, The Green Bird, and Juan Darién, with director Julie Taymor, Naranjo was asked to be a part of The Lion King in 1996. She was an important part of the creation of the show's sound: selecting instruments to be included in the show's orchestra, auditioning musicians, and writing percussion arrangements. Naranjo performed with The Lion King for over 24 years. It is the highest grossing Broadway musical of all time.

Around that same time, in 1995, an old friend and musical collaborator Lenny Pickett asked Naranjo to join the Saturday Night Live Band. Pickett looked to her to bring lively percussive and fresh sounds to the show during a time the show was struggling to maintain its audiences. Her instrument set-up consists of two mallet instruments, chime trees, woodblocks, cymbals, three congas, bongos, djembe, kpanlogo drum, timbales, and a variety of percussion instruments from around the world.

Since 2011, Naranjo has taught in the New York University Steinhardt School's percussion department. She directs the African Gyil and Percussion Ensembles, and coaches West African dance, drumming, and voice. She is also a member of NYU's "Global Institute of Advanced Studies" a think tank which travels with the goal to help NYU professors to have an improved international understanding. "Semana de Percusiones" (Peru), Festival De La Marimba 1 and 10 (2000 and 2010) Chiapas, Mexico, and has performed with the Ghana National Symphony in 2018 and 2019 [Song of Legaa liner notes]

Discography Orenda - Native American Music to Heal the Spirit (Lyrichord Discs) (2000)

Song of Legaa (with Kakraba Lobi and Barry Olsen) (Lyrichord Discs) (2000)

Lewaa's Dream (MandaraMusic) (2005)

Mandara - (with Barry Olsen, B. Carrott, V. Cherico, L. Traversa) (MandaraMusic) (2006)

Ye Suo Barra - The Last Word (with Kakraba Lobi and Barry Olsen) (MandaraMusic) (2008)

Bata Gyil with Africa>West Trio (MandaraMusic) (2017)

Other recordings Richard Barone - "Cool Blue Halo" (1987)

Richard Barone "Primal Dream" (1990

Richard Barone "25th Anniversary Concert 2012

Philip Glass Ensemble "Powaqqattsi" 1988

Carabali "Carabali" 1988

Carabali "Carabali 2" 1991

"Jazzin' Universally" recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa with Zim Nqawana, Barry Olsen, Jose Neto, Airto Moreira and others 1995

David Byrne "David Byrne" 1995

Selena "Dreaming of You" 1995

Megadrums "Layers of TIme"1996

David Soldier " Ice - 9 Ballads" 2001

Final Fantasy "The Dream Within" Elliot Goldenthal 2001

Frida "Original Soundtrack " Julie Taymore/Elliot Goldenthal 2002

SYOTOS "Trouble in Paradise" 2003

Sid Whelan "Waiting for Payday" 2019

Eric Mullens "Unexpected Beauty" 2021