Bio:
Born in Sao Paulo (Brazil), 1970, Simone plays drums since 85. Hard Rock, funk, reggae and Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) was just the starting point for her experiences into contemporary, traditional and world music.
Coming from a Brazilian musical background and upbringing in São Paulo, Simone developed her own drumming : a percussive way of playing the drums with an “urban” approach inspired in traditional brazilian music. From folk to modern, acoustic to electronic, her musical environment was auspicious on mixing styles looking for new territories of sounds and percussive expressions, to bring new elements to her performance and to create curious Percu-Object-Drum Set Ups.
“Travelling throughout Brazil from north to south I realized how my country is rich in Culture and has endless rhythms spreaded all over the territory and traveling around the world I came to a way of thinking music: it’s about life style, a state of spirit, human behavior, body language, soul expression, observing what is around you to understand, to learn and respect other cultures and exchange life experience”.
In the early 90’s Simone played with many local singers and bands in Sao Paulo and had her first recording session with Itamar Assumpcao – innovative singer/song writer from Sao Paulo and Orquideas do Brasil Band. By that time she met Chico Cesar, singer/composer that was just starting a band – with whom she would perform all over the world from 95 till nowadays joining him in most of his tours ( USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zeland ) playing in festivals such as Montreux Jazz, Womad, Jazz Heritage New Orleans to name a few. She also joined Chico in a french tour, 2005, with composer/piano player from Congo Ray Lema.
Quotes, Notes & Etc.
She's performed with renowned Brazilian artists in many countries and festivals since 2000:
Itamar Assumpcao (singer/song writer/poet from Sao Paulo) : Brazil, 1993 till 2003
Paulo Miklos (singer/song writer/actor from Sao Paulo, member of rock band Titans) : Brazil, 2001
Zeca Baleiro (singer/song writer from Maranhao) : Brazil, Cape Verdi, Portugal and Belgium, 2002
Zelia Duncan (singer/song writer from Rio de Janeiro) : Brazil and Portugal, 2003
Badi Assad (singer/acoustic guitar player/song writer from Sao Paulo) : USA, 1999; Europe, 1998, 2014 )
Os Mutantes (psychedelic Brazilian rock band from the 60’s that got together back after 30 years): Europe, 2005, 2007; U.S.A 2007
Simone recorded in life concert’s DVDs:
Zelia Duncan – “Sortimento”– São Paulo 2002
Zeca Baleiro – “Pet Shop Mundo Cao”– São Paulo 2003
Chico César e Quinteto da Paraiba – “De uns tempos pra ca”– São Paulo 2005
Os Mutantes – “Live in Barbican” – London 2006
Carlinhos Antunes e Orquestra Mundana – São Paulo 2009
DJ Tudo – “Nos Quintais do Mundo Melhor” – São Paulo 2011
Chico Cesar – “Estado de Poesia” – Recife 2016
Simone directed the documentary “Cidadao Samba” about samba master Osvaldinho da Cuica, in collaboration with DGT Filmes ( Sao Paulo 2004/20018 )
Together with producer Alfredo Bello, Simone created the soundtrack of the movie “Eu receberia as piores noticias dos seus lindos labios” from director Beto Brant ( Sao Paulo – 2010 )
Simone recorded on Badi Assad’s latest album “Hatched”, 2015 – Soul Food Label
From 2000 on Simone worked in collaboration with international artists and projects:
Orquestra Scotland/Brasil – a 16 piece band – 8 brazilians and 8 scotisch musicians – tour in Brazil, Scoltland, Shetland Island, England organized by British Arts Council/Brazil – 2003
La Reunion Batucada Project, with drummer Robertinho Silva, samba percussionists from Rio de Janeiro and trombone player Raul de Souza in 20 days cultural musical exchange in La Reunion Island – 2004
Ethel String Quartet (NY) – TruckStop Project – in collaboration with Festival Mundial and Paradox Jazz Podium, Tilburg 2008
Yusa ( Cuban composer/singer/bass player) – tour in Europe – 2008
6Spoons1Kitchen – dutch project with musicians from Holland, Egypt, Tunisia and Moldavia with a studio CD produced in Tilburg and concerts in Holland and Egypt – 2012
Talking Drums Stephan Rigert’s Project (Switzerland) with singer Gabriela Mendes ( Cape Verdi) and musicians from Senegal, Switzerland and Brazil, recording a live CD during the Swiss tour in Notting Hill Carnival London – together with dancer/producer Mariana Pinho and Mafua Group, Simone led the percussion session during carnival parade in London – 2013, 2014
Drums United – percussion world beat dutch band led by drummer Lucas van Merwijck, recording a studio CD and world tour in Holland, Germany, China and Thailand – 2014
Atanga Boom – afro-beat funky dutch band. Simone played in Holland in few festivals – 2015
Paulinho da Viola and Filarmonic Rotterdam Orquestra – concert in De Doelen – 2016
Simone produced her own CDs and some partnerships:
MEHINAKU – CAIAPO – Indigenous tribes from Xingu, with Dialeto multimedia group (2001/ 2003) – MCD World Music Label
PROJETO CRU – with brazilian producer Alfredo Bello / DJ Tudo and saxophone player Marcelo Monteiro (2005) – Mundo Melhor Label
BATUCAJE – with master drummer Robertinho Silva, Alfredo Bello and Jadna Zimmermann (2006) – Mundo Melhor Label
SIM ONE SOU – with Simone’s new band SOMOS (2011) Circus Label
SOUKAST – SOUNDS OF LIFE with piano player/composer Benjamin Taubkin and drummer/producer Guilherme Kastrup (2014) – Nucleo Contemporaneo, Adventure Music Label
Miriam Maria “Rama” – singer Miriam invited Simone as a producer ( 2015) – Por do Som Label
S.O.S BRAS BEAT – Simone latest cd recorded in Tilburg – Holland (2016) – Independent
Simone recorded with other artists in Brazil and abroad:
Iara Renno, Anelis Assumpcao, DJ Tudo, Vange Milliet, Pericles Cavalcanti, Kleber Albuquerque, Sandra Coelers, Paul van Kemenade, Elza Soares, Ceumar, Cia Cabelo de Maria, to name a few.
Since 2009 Simone develops a duo with Moldavian bayan (Moldavian button accordion) player/composer Oleg Fateev in a Balkan-Brazilian cross-over, performing as a Duo around Holland and Brazil.
In 2012 Simone moved to Holland, starting teaching percussion for batucada groups and doing workshops around Europe. Since 2015 Simone gives workshops during the summer World Music DrumCamp in Suffolk – England.
Simone recorded a DVD – SOMOS SOM – Musica Percussiva Brasileira (Brazilian Percussive Music) – a book/DVD method about brazilian rhythms co-produced with drummer/composer Fernando Lobo, recorded in Gramofone Studio in Curitiba ( state of Parana). Released during the Drum Camp in Sufolk – England in july 2017.
June 2017 – Simone played with her duo Soukast in Bimhuis – Amsterdam – During the project “Sounds of Brazil”
The world beat project N.E.W.S (percussion quartet) starts to tour from september on, in theaters around Holland.
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).