Marcus Santos // one of the best Brazilian percussionists - Brazilian Times

A contemporary percussionist and educator, Marcus Santos is a native of Salvador city in Bahia, Brazil. Having been raised in the uniquely rich African-influenced culture of Bahia, Marcus has passionately committed his life to the study, preservation and teaching of Afro-Brazilian music and heritage.

As an educator, Marcus has led numerous workshops in Afro-Brazilian percussion at MIT, Harvard University, Brown University, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Nagoya University (Nagoya, Japan) and Berklee College of Music. He currently works as a teacher at Somerville Public High School and he is the Artistic Director of five drumming groups in the states of Massachusetts, Ohio, Philadelphia, Colorado and Arizona in the USA. In Boston, Marcus is the co-founder and Artistic Director of AfroBrazil, an organization whose mission is to promote and teach Afro-Brazilian music and culture in the United States. He has also released “A Modern Approach to Pandeiro”; an instructional DVD on pandeiro playing that is now internationally distributed with subtitles in six languages.

Marcus has shared the stage with Brand New Heavies (UK), 10-time Grammy award winner Paquito DíRivera (Cuba), the Gipsy Kings (France), Mocidade Samba School (Brazil) and Mambolada (Brazil). His talents as a musician have landed him appearances on NBC (USA), MTV (Thailand), TV Globo (Brazil), as well as numerous venues around the world, including the Hard Rock Café (Orlando, USA), Kouen Mae Dori Classics (Tokyo, Japan), Rock In Rio (Brazil), Buddha (Mexico), Lincoln Center (New York, USA), Blend (Honduras), Parco della Musica (Rome, Italy), Holland Festival (Amsterdam, Holland) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA).