Renni FloresVoice from God
Renni Flores native of Bahia, Brazil. Bahia is considered the soul and heart beat of Brazil. Renni started singing at the age of 5, and in the early 80s she became the first woman in Bahia to sing with the group Bloco Afro Ilê Aiye in carnaval. She has the full rich sound needed to sing alone with drums of northeast Brazil. From there she performed at various festivals and directed her own folkloric dance company Bahia Magia, one of Brazil’s leading groups. Working with the state government, they toured worldwide.
Banda PimentaSamba, Bahia, Carnaval Marches
Banda Pimenta is a hot Brazilian group of musicians assembling for this carnaval ball that will rock your socks off with traditional Brazilian carnaval music. From Samba, to Bahia, to Carnaval Marches, you will dance the night away in the Great tradition of the Carnaval balls in Rio de Janeiro.
Traditional Music that every Brazilian loves at carnaval.
Members include:
Special Brazilian Guest Singer: RENNI FLORES
Daniel Carneiro -- Vocals, Guitar & Cavaquinho
Rodney D'assis -- Percussion
Sandro Rebel -- Keyboards
Sandro Feliciano -- Drums
Fernando Raio -- Bass
Rodney De AssisMusic Director
Rodney De Assis, a multi-talented Brazilian percussionist who has played extensively in Europe and the United States. Currently, he is working in the Los Angeles area playing for both American and Brazilian bands including being the master of the bateria of SambaLa Samba School.
SambaLeza DancersBeautiful Samba Dancers
Director Valeria Ruggieri joined SambaLá over 9 years ago when Doris, the SambaLá director gave her a crash course in samba and sent her off with the SambaLá performers group to Seoul Korea for a show for 100,000 people for Kia Motor's world-wide launching of the "Rio" Car. She was the most photographed dancer in the group and from that day on, she was hooked on Samba. Since then, she has worked her way up in the ranks and has danced on Jay Leno and Nickelodeon with Will Smith and even helped one of the contestants and appeared on "Dancing with the Stars" (see the video here).
She has worked her way from dancer, to princesa da bateria, rainha da bateria, and now madrinha da bateria. She teaches advanced samba dance and is creating special choreographies for the Street Carnaval. She also is an event planner and owner of Rio Bela Productions, and is vice-president of SambaLá Samba School, a non-profit organization.
SambaLa BateriaMasters of the Bateria
They say that the heartbeat of samba is the bateria or percussion unit. For SambaLa it is no different. Samba is infectious and has attracted many talented musicians to SambaLa.
The SambaLa bateria is lead by Mestre Rodney D'Assis, Brazilian born-percussionist and musician. He has written and arranged the breaks for this year's Brazilian Street Carnaval.
Other notable members of the sambaLa bateria include head-repinique Jesse Kitten (original member of SambaLa), the bahiana rhythm director Pedro Ha, long-time member and contributor to the bateria and its health Geoff Hunter (who has more samba instruments than anyone we know!), Ali Lexa (rehearsal director).
Samba SambaSamba Dance Show
"Samba Samba" is a Los Angeles based group, directed by Jeane July. The group performs traditional Rio-style Samba, as well as SambaAxe (Ah-shay) and Samba-Afro from the northern part of Brazil. We offer a full choreographed show along with a Samba lesson. Our goal is to entertain and to engage our audiences, creating a party atmosphere, like the ones in Brazil. Whether it be a Quinceanera, a wedding reception, a birthday, or a corporate event, we can customize our show for you. We can also include live drumming and percussions (a bateria).
BodySport CapoeriaCapoeria Esporte do Corpo
BodySport Capoeira (Capoeira Esporte do Corpo in Portuguese) was formed in late 2006 and is located in Long Beach, CA. The group is led by Mestre (Master) Roque, a native of the city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.
In June 2010, we moved to our own academy in Long Beach! We are excited to have our own space, which helps us to share the vibrancy of Brazilian culture in our neighborhood through ongoing classes, workshops, and events. We host a variety of great classes that encourage education, healthy and active living, and community building.
