Adriano Adewale

Adriano Adewale, percussionist and composer, was born in São Paulo, Brazil. In 2000, he moved to London and founded his first band in England, Sambura – resulting in the album Cru. During his performances at numerous festivals and events, he met the guitarist Antonio Forcione and finally became a member of the latter’s world-famous quartet. Today, he also works with renowned musicians such as Bobby McFerrin, Benjamim Taubkin, Joanna MacGregor and Britten Sinfonia. He created music for the visual artist Monica de Miranda, the Stacked Wonky Dance Company and also wrote the soundtrack for an animated film based on the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. He has also performed with Oliver Mtukudzi and played with and for Airto Moreira, Cesária Évora, Jools Holland and Salif Keïta. In 2007 he founded the Adriano Adewale Group – an international world jazz quartet – and released its first album Sementes a year later. In 2009 his solo project Sound Journey (together with SEGUE Productions) was created, with which he has performed at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, the Pulse Fringe Festival in Ipswich and the Latitude Festival, among others. In 2001 he wrote Talking about Us for the opening of the International Music Festival in Bath, a musical theatre piece about the rights of children which was performed by 200 children and teenagers. That same year, he was one of the few artists selected for Move on Up, a professional training programme founded by the production company Serious. His most recent collaboration was with Kate Flatt (choreographer of Les Misérables), where Adriano was musical director and composer of the dance-theatre production Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows. Among other similar positions, Adriano Adewale is artist in residence at the Lakeside Theatre of the University of Essex.