SAMBA DE RAIZ
HOUSE BAND

Roots Samba

Samba de Raiz house band, based in London, brings together top Samba musicians from across the city in a traditional Roda de samba 'round table' performance

Led by Marcos Santana and Aleh Ferreira - Samba De Raiz represents roots Samba music and culture in London - uniting the community and regularly hosting guests from Brazil.

community

Our monthly 'Roda de Samba' events at Maxilla Social Club in West London are the home of Brazilian Samba music in London, representing the community values of this social music.

Marcos Santana

Marcos learnt percussion from the age of 8 in Salvador, Bahia as part of the community organisation Pracatum, setup by twice Grammy winning Carlinos Brown (his teacher), to improve the quality of life for disadvantaged kids. He went on to play with Carlinos’ group, Timbalada, touring internationally, and engaging in social activism through work with children and social integration. He also played with Olodum, the creators of Samba-Reggae, famous in the West for their worked with Michael Jackson and Paul Simon.

Rodrigo Ritter

Surdo player for house band - Rodrigo began his musical career with Grupo Privilégio in the late 1990s, in the following years, he joined Grupo Novo Talento, from the neighboring city of Olinda. With Novo Talento, he performed at several events, playing at the most renowned venues in the state, such as Casa de Samba no Arruda, Quintal do Samba, Morro da Conceição, among others. At the age of 21, he moved to England, where he currently lives.

Seu Gaio

House Band Performer - Multi-instrumentalist Orginally from Rio Janeiro (before moving to London) with a background in Choro and Samba. He plays mandolin, cavaquinho, guitar, Brazilian banjo and assorted percussion and travels the World as a teacher, composer and performer. Gaio has a rich experience absorbed from samba carnivals at Mangueira Samba School, gigs with traditional ‘gafieira’ big bands, and the famous sambas and pagodes of the northern suburbs of Rio.

Nadia Pimentel

Singer in Roda de Samba house band - Nadia is a singer of Cape Verdean and Angolan origins who is self-taught after being born into a a family of artists. Her passion is for Angolan rhythms such as Semba and Rebita but her greatest musical musical influence comes from Brazilian styles like Samba and Maracuta. After some time as a successful signer in Lisbon she moved back to Angola where she shared the stage with Yuri da Cunha, Richard Bona,Luxembourg Philharmonic, Nadia is also a social worker

coRE Band

Aleh Ferreira

Aleh was the former front man of Banda Black Rio and has shared the stage with legends like Seu Jorge and Ed Motta. As a teacher he worked in the Mangueira Samba school in Rio, winning the Rio carnival competition 20 times! Aleh is musical director of Samba de Raiz house band.

GUEST MUSICIANS

Adriana Portela

Adriana Portela began her career through Maestro Neguinho do Samba, the creator of Samba reggae. She is the first woman in the world to conduct an all female samba-reggae band - her band is called the Didá Female Band. She has played with Brazilian and international celebrities like…Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Simone, Elza Soares, Carlinhos Brown, Shakira, and Milton Nascimento. As an educator, she has always seen music as the driving force to building community

Silvia Duffrayer

Silvia Duffrayer is a singer, composer and percussionist. She graduated from the Villa Lobos School of Music in popular singing. She studied at the percussion project “Batucadas Brasileiras” and at the Escola Portátil de Choro. She is currently a member of the group "Samba Que Elas Querem", where she sings and plays percussion. She also has the project “Samba da Sil”, which aims to promote samba in communities.

Anderson Da Silva

The percussionist musician Anderson da Silva, known as Bebeto Sorriso has performed with with Joãozinho Trinta, in Cidade do Samba with Carlinhos de Jesus, and others. Since 2007, he has been part of Sandra Sá's band. Bebeto is also the creator of the project Sorrindo e Batucando, which was created to provide opportunities for young people, who often had involvement with illicit activities, bringing a new reality to the youth of his neighborhood.

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