Close
I am a percussionist, researcher and educator from Rio de Janeiro, and I have been inside this world for twenty-five years.
I joined Monobloco in 2000 and still perform with them. We have toured Brazil, the USA, Europe and Japan, and I played on two albums and two DVDs. I have been in samba school baterias since 2002: over a decade in Rocinha, and in Vila Isabel since 2019, on repique.
From 2005 to 2019 I was mestre de bateria for Volta Alice, a bloco in Laranjeiras that grew to tens of thousands of people. In 2016 I entered a samba of my own into Mangueira’s competition.
I have written three books on samba school baterias: As Bossas do Mestre Maurão, Mestre Dudu — As Paradinhas da Não Existe Mais Quente, and Fundamentals of a Samba School Bateria. All three are bilingual, with notation and audio, because most of what is known about this music has never been written down.
I have taught at the University of Oxford, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Trinity School in Croydon, most recently in 2026, and I have run workshops across the UK, Europe, the USA, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In Brazil I have taught at Monobloco’s workshops, preparing people to parade in Rio, Belo Horizonte and São Paulo.
What Samba Beats is
Samba Beats is how I teach this outside Brazil: books, online courses and workshops on samba school percussion and the Rio Carnival parades, in English. Almost everything on this subject is in Portuguese, and much of it is not written down at all. This is my attempt to change that.
Suggestions? Complaints? Need any help? Want to know about percussion classes? Arrangements for you group? Send us a message!