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Members List:
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![]() Welcome to our new site! We hope you get to enjoy and learn about the music of Brazil and our band Sambalanço. We now have new members in the band and we hope you will come and hear us play. Sambalanço members proudly play with Contemporânea Drums and Percussion instruments. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT IS NEW WITH THE BAND:![]() Carnaval at El Parador, September 12, 2009 WWW.TUCSONBRAZILIANWEEK.COM ![]() Carnaval at El Parador, September 12, 2009 Sambalanço was formed in the year 2001, when a group of friends from the Hydrology Department of the University of Arizona got together to play on the weekends. ![]() Bill, Falina, Linus and Alex
![]() Front: Falina, Jeff, Carola Back: Aaron, Alex, Andre, Scott and Bill
Scott Crist Scott Crist is a native Tucsonan that has been playing bass for 10 years. He is the youngest member of Sambalanço. Scott has been involved and played with various bands, all based within Tucson. Since picking up the bass at Utterback Middle School he has been an avid jazz fan, and played in both the Utterback Jazz School Band, and the Tucson High Jazz Band while enrolled. In the year 2003, Scott was awarded a partial scholarship to attend a week long workshop organized by the Berklee College of Music, hosted by Cal-State at Fullerton. Scott graduated from Tucson High in 2004 and has been attending Pima Community College. He plans to continue his studies at the University of Arizona. Falina Enriquez Falina started playing guitar and singing since when she was a child, beginning with Mexican and American folk songs. In 1999 she joined Alborada, an Andean band based out of Rincon High School. Later she played with the Arizona version of Khenany, a professional Andean band with whom she played bass, guitar and charango for 6 years. In 2004 Falina formed the folk-acoustic duo T.G. Express with her friend, Michael Ronstadt for which she wrote original songs as well as played guitar and sang lead vocals. In 2004 she became the original bassist for Combo Westside, a full band that blends jazz, pop, rock and latin music. Falina began singing backup vocals with Sambalanco in 2006. Although she currently lives in Chicago, she still maintains relationships with her band mates and participate in their practices, gigs and recording sessions. Carolina Ibáñez-Murphy A native of Lima, Peru, Carola as she is known by her friends, has been playing music from the age of 5 years old. At that tender age, she entered the prestigious National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Peru where she gave her own renditions of Classical pieces she had learned by ear as part of her audition. She stayed at the Conservatory until 1980, where she was sent to study at a College in the East Coast. While in Lima, Carola was member of 3 different bands and she also played while attending College in Pennsylvania. Because her mother was born in Brazil and her grandmother was Brazilian, Carola grew up listening to chorinhos and a particular type that her grandmother called “tanguinho fuladinho.” Every festivity in her house, was always celebrated with music of both countries, Peru and Brazil, since it is part of her heritage. Although, no such a type really exists, it gave Carola a basis of the chorinhos that her grandmother would play in the guitar and sing in portuguese. While Carola is now a professor of languages, her love for music has never stopped, especially for the sounds of her childhood, that only Brazilian music brings to her heart. Carola sings and plays the keyboards, guitars, charango, cavaquinho, accordeon, repenique, triangle, agogo, bamborica and surdo. Linus Lerner A native of Brazil, Linus has conducted orchestras, choirs and instrumental groups in Brazil, the United States, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Spain and Mexico. Linus has been assistant conductor of the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra, the UA Philarmonica, the University of Colorado Opera and has served an assistant conductor with the Arizona Opera Company. In addition, he was associate conductor at the Opera in the Ozarks, the Tallahassee Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Florida State University Orchestras. Numerous are the operas that Linus has conducted, among them are: La Traviata, Suor Angelica, Barber of Seville, Semele, La Cenerentola, Die Fledermaus, Merry Wives of Windsor, La Canterina, Carmen, Don Giovanni,Le Nozze di Figaro and Procedura Penal. In 2001 Lerner earned a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Florida State University. He also has a Master’s degree in Voice Performance from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Conducting at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He has been the artistic and executive director of Reveille Tucson Men’s Chorus in Tucson, AZ since 2003. Under his direction, the chorus has recorded three CDs and performed numerous concerts in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as tours in Mexico, Brazil and Canada. As a singer, Lerner has performed in many operas and concerts in the United States, Italy and Brazil, and has received awards in Competitions such as the Neyde Thomas International Voice Competition, the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra Voice Competition and the Miami University Concerto Competition. He also currently teaches voice at his private studio. Bill M. Martinez Bill is a native Tucsonan who started playing music in grade school all the way through High School. Bill started playing brass instruments such as Trumpet, Trombone, Baritone Horn, and making Tuba and Sousaphone his main instruments. In High School, Bill played in the Marching Band, Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band and Pep Band. During this time, Bill also played percussion such as Congas and small hand percussion instruments. Percussion then, became his passion. He started to specialize in Latin Percussion playing with Mexican American Bands, Salsa Band and Latin Jazz Band. Because of the Latin influence, he wanted to learn more, and discovered Brazilian Music. This is when he started training himself, twenty two years ago in the rhythms of Brazilian Music and Percussion. Bill was the co-founder of Sounds of Brazil from 1992-1997, the main Brazilian Band in Tucson. He also was instrumental in continuing the Brazilian tradition of celebrating Carnaval in Tucson. In addition, Bill played with Brazil and Co and was the co-founder and Co- Director of Batucaxé a Brazilian based percussion ensemble. Bill has continued his studies of Brazilian Music through the years, traveling to Brazil for the last ten years, taking percussion lessons from various Master Percussionists in cities such as, Porto Seguro, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Bill is also a Studio Musician, who has recorded with many groups, such as: Larry Redhouse Quartet, Avatar Band, and Circadian Rhythms. Bill is also sponsored and a good friend of Contemporânea Drums in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bill currently plays with Saravá a Bossa Nova Band and Sambalanço a Carnaval Brazilian Dance Band where he is the co-band leader and one of the main percussionists. He plays Congas, Timbal, Repenique, Surdos, Tamborica, and pandeiro. Andre Luiz Pasqua Tavares Andre is was born in Alfenas, a medium-sized city localized in the southern part of Minas Gerais – Brazil. He went to Dental School in Alfenas, becoming a dentist in 2000. During this time, Andre sung and played the piano in church and also in a secular chorus. After becoming a DDS, Andre studied at a Catholic Seminary and studied Philosophy for 1 year. He quit the seminar in 2002 and started the Masters Program in Cellular Biology in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. Andre finished the Masters in 2004, starting right away a PhD program in the same concentration. In 2005, he got a scholarship to come to the US as an exchange student to perform part of his doctorate dissertation. He moved to Tucson and worked for 1 year at the University of Arizona. During this time, Andre also sang in a community chorus. He returned to Brazil in 2006 and finished the doctoral program in 2007. That same year, Andre got an invitation to return as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the same laboratory he worked as an exchange student at the University of Arizona. He moved to Tucson again in March 2007 to work in the Post-Doc Researcher position. He works with molecular and cellular biology, focusing on development research. He is also singing in the Reveille chorus and now also with Sambalanco. Alex Rivera-Rios A native of Puerto Rico, Alexis has been playing music since his early teens. His first instrument was the drums, which he played for a couple of years. Later, he shifted his musical interest from the percussion to the guitar. He studied classical guitar during the summer of 1992 at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. While pursuing his BS in Computer Engineer at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, he was the leader of the ska/rock band Mar de Tierra; a project that lasted for 2 years. Later, he spent most of his spare time composing music on his computer; mostly electronic/new age/rock. After graduating college, he moved to Tucson to work in 1999 where he continued composing in his home studio. (http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artistindex.asp?artistID=17984). Although his main instrument is the guitar, Alexis has collaborated as a bassist in projects such as the rap/funk Odd Association; (http://profile.myspace.com/oddassociation1) and alternative band A Point In Time (http://www.myspace.com/apointintime). He recorded guitars for the Dub/Experimental project The Aquanarians (http://www.myspace.com/theaquanarians ). He has also produced music local artists such as Diana Gen (http://www.myspace.com/sparklestylee) and Dez. (http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artistindex.asp?artistID=17984) Thanks to the magic of the internet, he collaborated with his long time friend Jose Mendez (in Ohio at that time) for the Session 6 Project (http://www.myspace.com/session6project) . One of the outcomes of this collaboration was the song Estamos Solos recorded for the compilation CD Rocka y Rollo (http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7019456/a/Rocka+Y+Rollo.htm). In 2006, he continued his classical guitar studies under the instruction of Dr. Jorge Pastrana. Always looking for new challenges, Alexis joined Sambalanco later in 2007 to further develop his guitar skills and continue exploring new music. Aaron Szabo Aaron Szabo recently moved to Tucson from the San Francisco bay area. Aaron received a BA in Jazz improvisation from San Jose State University. Aaron began to study Afro-Cuban music in the early 90’s. He was mostly involved with a group named Charangon Nueve. Charanga is a classic style of Cuban music that was popular in the 40-50’s. Aaron did some work with the Brazilian Bateria Samba Asia. He got the opportunity to march in San Francisco’s Carnaval. Aaron is one of Sambalanco’s newest members and looks forward to the challenge and excitement of playing percussion in a full Brazilian band. Past Members of Sambalanço Dr. Luis Gustavo Gonçalves de Gonçalves: Violao, Guitar, Cavaco, Repenique and Pito. Dr. Leonardo Lopes: Guitar, Cavaco, Back-up Vocals. Dr. Renata Souza-Migliati: Back-up Vocals Dr. Rosangela Sviercoski: Back-up Vocals Dr. Eliana Rivero: Back-up Vocals Dr. Teresa Scionti: Back-up Vocals Orestes Morfin: Bateria Carol Evans: Back-up Vocals Eric Sieger: Bass David Goshis: congas, Back-up Charles Downman: Guitar Jesse Dickinson: Sax Fabiola Lopes: Back-up Elektra: Guitar Cliff Berrien: Percussion Drew Andreatta: Percussion John Houtride: Guitar Peter Smith: Guitar,Cavaco Very important people for Sambalanço Dr. Luis Gustavo Gonçalves de Gonçalves was our first Director and the person that created the name and the band. Tavo left our Old Pueblo to head for the stars!! He is now working for NASA. Please enjoy the following pictures of Tavo! Obrigada Tavo!
Roberto Guariglia, his brother Sergio and his uncle Miguel at the "Contemporánea" Shop have been invaluable. Roberto has sponsored many of our workshops, trips within Sao Paulo and also with the purchase of our instruments. If you need any kind of brazilian instrument, please visit Roberto! Obrigada Roberto at:
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