About Us
Jorge Alabe
Professional Musician, Educator, and Brazilian master percussionist Jorge Alabê was born in Rio de Janeiro and grew up immersed in the rich musical culture of Brazil. He developed from a young age as a master drummer in the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candomblé, and his title “Alabê” signifies the highest level of skill, deep knowledge, and authority in the rhythms, songs, and leading of rituals in Candomblé. Jorge also became a samba percussionist as a young man, playing with the highest-level samba groups in Rio and achieving recognition as one of the top repinique players of his time. He served as rhythm director of the Minas Gerais Samba School in Belo Horizonte and participated in recordings with top recording artists such as Milton Nascimento and Martinho da Vila.
Jorge became known internationally while he was percussion director and a featured performer with the legendary Brazilian performing group Oba Oba. During his 15 years with Oba Oba, he toured through Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as the United States. Jorge moved to the U.S. in 1996, first residing in New Orleans, where he mentored and performed with the cultural group Casa Samba. He has been teaching workshops in samba and folkloric percussion as well as Candomblé rhythm, song, and dance forms throughout the U.S. since then and has been an inspiration to numerous musicians and community groups across the country.
He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004, where he leads his award-winning samba group, Grupo Samba Rio, and he continues to perform, teach, and inspire students. He was the samba director at California Brazil Camp for 15 years starting with its inception in 1997 and continues to be a leading instructor and cultural icon at the camp. Jorge Alabê became well known to students of traditional music as a featured singer on the CD Bata-Ketu: A Musical Interplay of Cuba and Brazil and has also released a recording of Candomblé music, Cantigas e Ritmos dos Orixas: The Music of Candomblé. He currently offers classes in samba, pagode, and Candomble music, including online instruction. More information about Jorge Alabê can be found on his website, www.jorgealabe.com, and at
www.facebook.com/JorgeAlabeMas...
Michael Spiro
Known for his work in the Latin music field, Michael Spiro is an internationally recognized percussionist, educator and recording artist: He is a ten-time Grammy nominee, and has produced seminal recordings in the Latin music genre, including Mabagwe”, “Canto América”, “BataKetu”, “BataMbira”, “Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge”, and “Grupo Ilu-Aña”.
His performing and recording credits cover an array of internationally known artists: from such pop artists as David Byrne, Carlos Santana and Charlie Watts, to Latin music icons Eddie Palmieri, Israel Lopez (Cachao) and Richard Egues, to such jazz luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Hutcherson and McCoy Tyner.
In 2011 Michael was appointed Associate Professor of Percussion in the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he developed the curriculum for Latin and Brazilian music in both the percussion and jazz departments. He retired from that position in 2019, but remains dedicated to music education, and continues to be in high demand as a guest artist at universities and percussion organizations worldwide. His myriad of percussion books (all published by Sher Music Publications) have set the standard for Latin music pedagogy, as have his critically acclaimed DVDs. In the last decade, he has been a trail blazer in creating content for the internet with the launching of two ground breaking websites: “congamasterclass.com” and “sambamasterclass.com”.
Michael’s recording and producing career continues unabated. In 2017 he co-produced “Canto America” with his long-time working partner Wayne Wallace. It received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for a 2017 Grammy in the Latin-Jazz category. In 2019 he collaborated with Jose Luis Gomez to release a recording
of contemporary Cuban rumba: “Mabagwe - a Tribute to the Elders”. Produced by his long-time musical colleague Jesús Diaz, the recording is dedicated to his Cuban mentors Regino Jimenez and Esteban Vega Bacallao ("Cha-Chá") and resulted in a nomination for a Cubadisco Premio in 2019 (the equivalent of the Cuban Grammies). Michael is the first foreigner to receive such an honor! This was followed by a co-production with Joe Galvin in 2020 of a performance/documentary “Los Bandos” filmed in the city of Matanzas, Cuba. This hour-long film explores the music of the original Matanzas rumba groups from over 100 years ago, and it was nominated for a Cubadisco Premio in 202! Currently he is celebrating the release of a new project of Cuban charanga music by the group “Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion”, entitled “Encantado”.
In the performace arena, Michael continues to co-lead and perform with “OLMT”, still holds the conga drum chair in the internationally acclaimed (and 2011, 2014, and 2015 Grammy nominated) “Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet” and co-leads “Conjunto Karabali” with long-time Santana percussionist Karl Perrazzo.
The beat goes on!