AfroReggae

Altair

Altair Martins da Silva
Altair is one of the most well known faces of AfroReggae. He has been a member of the group since he was just 8 years old and has developed into a world class percussionist and a hugely experience workshop leader. He has 2 daughters and like all the others has his heart and his home in Rio. Like Juninho, he is one of the main percussionists in the main international touring AfroReggae band who are signed to Warner Music and tour all over the world. Altair has wowed audiences in stages in America, India, London, Germany and even Copacabana Beach as support for the Rolling Stones. He is the director of AfroLata (the group that Junior and Ligão coordinate) and four years ago he created AfroReggae’s Carnival Bloco who perform in the world famous Rio Carnival – in February this year their performance saw a million people dancing in street in Ipaneme.
 

Betho

Jose Roberto Pacheco
Betho has been with AfroReggae for 10 years. He was born in São Paulo and is a trained dancer and choreographer. He is also AfroReggae’s Special Projects Coordinator, running a variety of programmes including some in adult and juvenile prisons in Rio de Janeiro. He plays an invaluable role on the programmes run by People’s Palace Projects with AfroReggae in the UK, the Cultural Warriors Programme and the Together Apart project that runs in association with Bad Taste Cru. He speaks good English and is the only member of AfroReggae who has been to Liverpool before….
 

Bruninho

Bruno Dias Ladeira

Bruninho is a circus performer, workshop leader and stilt walker. He works with Duda in a favela called Cantagalo which is perched on the steep hills behind the exclusive communities of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio. Hidden in the favela is an AfroReggae centre where Bruninho teaches young people from the favela circus skills in the big top style workshop room. The AfroReggae Circus Group trains young these people from community in circus skills. They have a direct link to the National Circus School of Brazil and to the world famous company Cirque du Soleil.

Duda

Denis da Silva Duda
Duda is a clown, circus artist, circus techniques instructor, climber and director. He was trained by the National Circus School of Brazil, was the first gradate of that school to be trained in the Chinese mast style of circus and is currently Professor of Climbing Techniques for Artistic Performances in Afroreggae. He lives in Rio de Janeiro and is 34 years old. He entered the circus in 2000 with the desire to find a way to linking his love of climbing techniques to the world of the circus. He calls himself a Radiclown and likes to use the environment as a natural resource for his performances. He is looking forward to climbing some Liverpudlian trees! First circus performer formed by the National Circus School of Brazil in the Chinese Mast Circus Style, he is a specialist in technical and acrobatic duets.
 

Juninho

Eduardo Junior Santos da Souza
Juninho was just 12 when joined AfroReggae. Now he is the grand old age of 26 and in his 14 years with the group has risen to pay a key role in their main international touring band who are signed to Warner Music and tour all over the world. Juninho has played on stages in America, India, London, Germany and even Copacabana Beach as support for the Rolling Stones. Back home in Rio in 2005 he took part in a historic performance of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, which was produced by People’s Palace Projects and Afroreggae and performed in the no mans land between two notoriously violent favela communities. He has been coming to the UK with People’s Palace Projects to run projects since 2006 and has worked in Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead, Oxford and all over London but this is his first time to Liverpool. He has one son.
 

Junior

Clovis Alexandre da Silva
Junior is the younger brother of Luciano. He is 21, has one son who looks just like him and lives in Vigário Geral in Rio de Janeiro – the favela where AfroReggae were founded in 1993. Along with Ligão he was one of the founding members of AfroLata, a group within AfroReggae whol play on recycled instruments. The group was formed when the two of them as kids started imitating the main AfroReggae band by drumming on bits of rubbish while the guys were rehearsing. Over a decade later Junior is one of the group’s coordinators and has played on the main stage at the Barbican in London as well as as part of Together Apart with Bad Taste Cru. He runs workshops across Rio and as part of the UK Cultural Warriors Programme with People’s Palace Projects. He is well known for having has the biggest smile in AfroReggae, which was at its widest when working with Lawnmowers Theatre company in Gateshead this year as part of Cultural Warriors – Lawnmowers are a group who specialise in working with people with learning disabilities which was a totally new and inspiring experience for Junior.
 

Ligão

Angelo Antonio Carvalho de Rodrigues
Ligão is 24 years old, a father and lives in Vigário Geral in Rio de Janeiro – the favela where AfroReggae were founded in 1993. He was one of the founding members of AfroLata, a group within AfroReggae whol play on recycled instruments. The group was formed when he and Junior (who is also coming to Liverpool) started imitating the main AfroReggae band by drumming on bits of rubbish while the guys were rehearsing. That was about 13 years ago and now Ligão is one of the group’s coordinators and has played on the main stage at the Barbican in London as well as as part of Together Apart with Bad Taste Cru. He runs workshops across Rio and as part of the UK Cultural Warriors Programme with People’s Palace Projects. He is a keen DJ and his nickname, Ligão means ‘switched on’!
 

Luciano

Luciano da Silva dos Santos
Luciano has been with AfroReggae as a percussionist for over a decade. He is 25 years old and his brother, Junior, is also coming to Liverpool. He lives in Vigário Geral in Rio de Janeiro – the favela where AfroReggae were founded in 1993. He runs drumming workshops in AfroReggae’s centres and drums for Makala, an Afro Brazilian dance group within AfroReggae. Luciano has been to the UK several times on projects with People’s Palace Projects (PPP). He has worked on Cultural Warriors and the Together Apart project that runs in association with Bad Taste Cru. He also travelled with PPP to a VERY snowy Estonia earlier this year to start a brand new project there as part of their programme as European City of Culture in 2011.
 

Mariana

Mariana dos Santos Silva

Mariana will turn 18 while she is working in Liverpool. She has been running dance and percussion workshops across different AfroReggae cultural centres for four years. She travelled to Newcastle as part of Together Apart (the project with Bad taste Cru) to run workshops and perform and she also performed with Makala (the AfroBrazilian dance group that is part of AfroReggae and that Luciano works with as well) at an international festival in California in 2008. She also lives in Vigário Geral in Rio de Janeiro – the favela where AfroReggae were founded in 1993.

Nico

Bad Taste Cru
Originally hailing from Omagh in politically and religiously divided Northern Ireland, Bad Taste Cru (BTC) have been operating since 1990 as a graffiti and skate crew, and have been together as a break dance collective for 11 years. BTC have held the UK Street Dance Champions crown [2008] and are now recognised as an internationally renowned break dance crew based in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England as Associate Artists at Dance City (National Dance Agency for the North East of England). BTC uses their culture of dynamic creativity within break dance and hip hop as a tool to communicate with people around the world, using the art of dance to defy social and international barriers. Their dancing has seen them perform in Lithuania, San Francisco (USA), Poland, Holland, Germany, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland and on stages as diverse as Breakin’ Convention (Sadlers Wells), The Place, South Bank Centre and most recently at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House. They recently triumphed at the Evolution Battle in London and won the right to represent the UK in New York later this year and are fresh home from a fortnight working with AfroReggae in Brazil.
 

Paul Allen

Bad Taste Cru
Originally hailing from Omagh in politically and religiously divided Northern Ireland, Bad Taste Cru (BTC) have been operating since 1990 as a graffiti and skate crew, and have been together as a break dance collective for 11 years. BTC have held the UK Street Dance Champions crown [2008] and are now recognised as an internationally renowned break dance crew based in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England as Associate Artists at Dance City (National Dance Agency for the North East of England). BTC uses their culture of dynamic creativity within break dance and hip hop as a tool to communicate with people around the world, using the art of dance to defy social and international barriers. Their dancing has seen them perform in Lithuania, San Francisco (USA), Poland, Holland, Germany, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland and on stages as diverse as Breakin’ Convention (Sadlers Wells), The Place, South Bank Centre and most recently at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House. They recently triumphed at the Evolution Battle in London and won the right to represent the UK in New York later this year and are fresh home from a fortnight working with AfroReggae in Brazil.
 

Paul Kelly

Bad Taste Cru
Originally hailing from Omagh in politically and religiously divided Northern Ireland, Bad Taste Cru (BTC) have been operating since 1990 as a graffiti and skate crew, and have been together as a break dance collective for 11 years. BTC have held the UK Street Dance Champions crown [2008] and are now recognised as an internationally renowned break dance crew based in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England as Associate Artists at Dance City (National Dance Agency for the North East of England). BTC uses their culture of dynamic creativity within break dance and hip hop as a tool to communicate with people around the world, using the art of dance to defy social and international barriers. Their dancing has seen them perform in Lithuania, San Francisco (USA), Poland, Holland, Germany, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland and on stages as diverse as Breakin’ Convention (Sadlers Wells), The Place, South Bank Centre and most recently at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House. They recently triumphed at the Evolution Battle in London and won the right to represent the UK in New York later this year and are fresh home from a fortnight working with AfroReggae in Brazil.