A Local reader called me recently and said, “You just have to write about Karen Smith and her musical groups. I just saw her perform at the Chestnut Hill Library, and she was fabulous. Everyone there thoroughly enjoyed her music. People couldn’t stop talking about her afterwards.”

As it turns out, Karen “Magic Fingaz” Smith, a Mt. Airy resident for the past 33 years, is a peripatetic bundle of energy, multitalented joy and just plain fun. Fans know her mostly as a percussionist and founder of the Karen Smith Drums Ensemble and Karen Smith Experience, but she is also an accomplished playwright, poet, director, producer of plays at festivals, teaching artist and curator of artistic projects. She is in such demand that she has played as many as three different performances in one day.

She has taken the stage in productions at major venues including the Wilma and Suzanne Roberts theaters in Center City; as well as both Unitarian churches in Mt. Airy, in fashion shows, martial arts demonstrations, and even behind prison walls.

Smith performed May 31 at Arts in the Park in Elkins Park and will be featured at the Summer Solstice Art & Wellness Retreat, Saturday, June 20, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Warrington; and at Tired Hands Biergarten, Thursday, June 25, 6 to 8:30 p.m., 6730 Germantown Ave. She will perform at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sept. 5 in a program celebrating jazz legend John Coltrane’s 100th birthday. (His actual birthday was Sept. 23.)

A native of the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Smith came to Philadelphia in her mid-30s. “I needed something different than I was used to,” she told the Local last week. “I figured I’d give it a year and then try something else if I had to, but I’ve been here now since 2003. Each year I give it another year. My ultimate goal is to live in another country if I can sustain myself. I love Paris.”

Smith has performed many times with Germantown’s renowned poet, author and playwright Sonia Sanchez. In fact, Smith conceived of “The Fullest Moon of Sonia Sanchez,” a two-hour film project funded by the William Penn Foundation with a grant administered by Black Music City in collaboration with two Philadelphia-based radio stations, WRTI 90.1 FM, WXPN 88.5 FM and the REC Philly, a Gen Z and Millennial marketing organization.

The film, which premiered in the fall 2025 in celebration of Sanchez’ 91st birthday, is now available for local and national screenings, accompanied by a range of curated artist talks or workshops featuring filmed poets at educational institutions, community centers, museums, libraries, bookstores and cafés.

Smith earned a bachelor’s degrees from Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, majoring in addictive and behavioral health; and Kaplan University, now a part of Purdue University, specializing in nutrition and personal training. She also studied writing and directing at Brooklyn College and Hunter College.

She is self-taught on the drums, however. “My mom said the drums were just for boys,” she said. “Our house was noisy anyway since I am the youngest of eight children, so nobody minded. I was given drums by a cousin, but someone broke into the house and stole them, so when I came to Philly, I did not have any drums.”

The fact that Smith has lived in Mt. Airy for 33 years says a lot about the musician’s opinion of Northwest Philadelphia since Smith was previously a rolling stone who had short stays living in Northern Liberties, West Philadelphia. South Philadelphia, Jenkintown, North Philadelphia “for a minute,” Elkins Park, Fairmount, Sewell, New Jersey, and Germantown. Part of the appeal of Mt. Airy is that it is LGBTQ+ friendly.

“I lived with a partner for 10 years,” said Smith, who is also a resident teaching artist at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. “She was a licensed social worker, poet and storyteller. I have been with my current partner for about a year ...

“I also love the greenery in Mt. Airy and Germantown. The only time I saw anything like it in New York was in Central Park. I have no car now. I take public transportation, Uber or Lyft or rent a car. I take my drums to lots of libraries, workshops, even the Barnes Museum.”

Smith struggled for years but started receiving grants in 2018. In 2023, she was awarded a Mural Arts Pew Fellowship grant for $75,000. “It changed my life,” she said. “It made a big difference, and I don’t even know who nominated me.” (Smith has also received several Leeway Foundation grants and others from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Creative Philadelphia, and Black Music City.)

Smith wrote a play, “I Beat the Devil Running and I’m so Glad,” about sexual abuse in churches that was performed last year first at a Powelton Village venue (just a reading) and then at Vox Populi art gallery, 11th and Vine Streets. She also wrote the play “Thrill Divas Three,” collaborating with songwriters James Solomon and Alfie Pollitt. The work was performed at the Chestnut Hill United Church and at the Philadelphia Ethical Society in Center City. Smith has finished 11 chapters in a memoir she is currently writing that also includes many poems and haikus.

She has been a vegetarian since 1991. “My family had so many health problems,” she said. “Both of my parents died young. I wanted to avoid that, which is what got me into fitness and nutrition.”

For more information, visit karensmithdrums.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.