RIO DON JUAREZ.com

by Elijah Zarwan 

 

Don Juarez is among the world's foremost Brazilian musicians and composers living and working today. Born in Nilópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Don first studied percussion as a small boy with his uncle in Piquete S.Paulo.

Over the course of his long and accomplished career, Don has performed in Korea, Egypt, Israel, Denmark Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Germany, the United States, Portugal, and Brazil—both as a band leader and as a featured performer in Sun Ra's Arkestra. He has shared a stage with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Miami Sound Machine, Julio Iglesias, Iris Chacon, and others.

In 1981, he founded the band Samba Spaceship, which the New York Times called "One of the best Brazilian acts performing today," and which toured throughout North America and Europe.

Many of his recorded compositions are highly prized by collectors around the world, particularly "Samba Jazz and Heritage," "Around the World," "Live from Cancun," and "Sounds of the Millenium." In 1993, he recorded with Brazilian Jazz legend Tania Maria.

Don has always made it a priority to pass along his knowledge. Over the course of the 1980s and 90s, he founded the Rio Samba School and the Favella International Samba School. In the mid-1990s, he acted as the president of the Brazilian Cultural Center in Montreal, where he taught Brazilian dance, capoeira, music, and cuisine.

Today, Don most often performs on the guitar, but has returned to playing percussion with the Arkestra on tours through out Europe. As the inventor of Brazilian flamenco, he has lectured at Carnegie Hall on the history of the instrument and Brazilian music. His compositions move seamlessly between ballads, samba, flamenco, bossa nova, classical, reggae, rap, and jazz.

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