Matthew Schertz fell in love with udu drums while in college, and has been a fervent devotee ever since. After applying both Middle Eastern and Afro-Cuban rhythms to the drums for a few years, he realized he needed to take the next step and traveled to Madras, India in 1997 to study the ghatam with T.H. Subash Chandran. He currently performs with the bands "Gül" and "Jhalla." When he isn't playing music, Matthew is working on his dissertation on pedagogy and teaching philosophy at Rutgers University.