He’s been a professional musician since the age of 14, when he appeared in the frontline of Timbalada, Carlinhos Brown’s superstar percussion ensemble. Since 2001, he’s been splitting his time between the US and Bahia, working with his own ensembles.

His flagship group, Dendê & Band reflects the cross-section of his deep roots in traditions like samba de roda and Candomblé and his eclectic musical appetite for other global rhythms like rumba, afrobeat and mbalax. Over the past two decades, Dendê & Band have performed at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles; the KW Latinfest in Canada; the Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia; the Kalalu Festival in Saint Lucia, Summerdance and Old Town School in Chicago the Lincoln Center Atrium in NYC among many others.