Mariá Portugal, drums, percussion, composer (1984, São Paulo Brazil)
Mariá Portugal was born at the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1984. She began studying music at the age of 9, having piano classes, and later studying drums and orchestral percussion. She has produced live and recorded soundtracks and sound design for theatre, dance, animation, art installations and websites. She’s also member and music director or Panapaná Dance Theatre Company since 2005, and guest member of Nova Dança 4, a dance company specialized in improvisation. She graduated in composing and conducting at São Paulo State University (UNESP), studying under Flo Menezes and Alexandre Lunsqui. Now she’s doing her masters at Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), where she researches the relationship between music and dance at the stage.
As a drummer and percussionist, she’s been doing a huge variety of works throughout Brazil. Her recorded albums include: 2 with Dona Zica, whom she’s been a member since 2001; 3 with Trash Pour 4, whom she has been touring with through Portugal, France, England and Japan, and 1 live CD/DVD with Fernanda Takai, a prominent brazilian singer whom Mariá has been touring with since 2006. She also plays toy instruments with the new Pato Fu project ‘Música de Brinquedo’. At the moment she is working with her new group, SINAMANTES, which has already toured throughout Europe and the USA, and with the avant-garde composer Arrigo Barnabé.