batucada carioca
Maninho Costa with Monobloco. 2006
Joelson David Costa, better known as Maninho Costa, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from the early age of 8 he learned to play all the drums in the baterias of the famous Rio Carnival. He started in a mini-bateria for kids as a social project from the samba school Uniao da Ilha do Governador. During this time he was already participating in many television programs, live shows and small concerts performing with a group of 20 children who are now adult professionals playing in different samba schools.
At the age of 15 he began to play in the adult baterias and was invited to record with professional percussionists. Some of the many records he participated in recording were for Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro (LP) playing repinique solo with all the samba schools for many years. He also participated on Sergio Mendes's - Brasileiro (track - Fanfarra) playing repinique solo among 100 samba percussionists hand-picked by Sergio Mendes from all of the samba schools in 1991.
Having a strong understanding and ability to play all of the samba percussion instruments, Maninho has played with some of the largest and most famous samba schools such as Salgueiro, Tijuca, Beija-flor, Viradouro, Grande Rio (bateria lead by his uncle, Mestre Odilon Costa) and Uniao da Ilha do Governador.
Maninho and Mestre Odilon began giving workshops for the Brazilian group Monobloco which has now become a very popular group that conducts workshops and performs numerous shows nationally and internationally.
Batucada Carioca. Brazilfest. 2007
In 2001 Maninho was invited to go to Canada with a stage band lead by Filo Machado, renowned Brazilian guitarist from Sao Paulo, to perform for a large annual fundraising gala called the Brazilian Carnival Ball. Based in Toronto, Maninho began to give samba percussion workshops. He formed his own samba group called Batucada Carioca which is made up of 20-25 people from all cultural backgrounds performing consistently. The group has performed in various festivals, clubs and other types of events in and around the city giving a taste of Brazilian culture to the multicultural Canadian community. In 2003 Batucada Carioca was the opening act for Daniella Mercury's concert in Toronto.
In 2004 he performed with Brazilian piano maestro Jovino Santos Neto in conjunction with the Gryphon Trio and University of Toronto. In 2008 Maninho was invited to perform as part of the Art Of Jazz Orchestra, organized by Jane Bunnett, with Jovino and legendary Brazilian composer, instrumentalist and icon Hermeto Pascoal.
Maninho also plays with an eclectic variety of bands ranging from latin jazz to bossa nova to fusion and more. Some of the great local musicians he's worked and toured with include Paul Donat, Rick Shadrach Lazar, Jesse Cook as well as his own group Batucada Carioca.
Aside from local work, Maninho has also conducted samba workshops and performances in the United States and Europe.
Maninho's goal by conducting workshops is to teach students interested in learning about Brazilian music and culture by learning proper technique, repertoire and grooves in order to play samba in it's true tradition from the Rio carnival.
