CASA SAMBA

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WHO WE ARE 
 
                              GROUP'S HISTORY         LEADERSHIP   PRESS INFO 
Casa Samba is a New Orleans-based, authentic Brazilian Escola de Samba (samba school).Mayor Sidney Barthelemy proclaimed Casa Samba as the first samba school in New Orleans on July 21, 1993. Director, Curtis Pierre, and Brazilian master drummer, Jorge "Alabe" Bezerra, lead the group with the assistance of Chuk and Carol Barber. Casa Samba's primary goal is to present audiences with an authentic Brazilian Carnival and folk arts experience. Furthermore, our goal is to train children and adults in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South into aspiring practitioners of traditional Brazilian music, cultural arts and dance. Casa Samba does this through weekly open rehearsals and frequent school
and university workshops. We showcase our professional performances at major hotels, festivals, conventions and special events; and through our annual participation in several Mardi Gras parades and coronations such as Endymion and Zulu and at the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival. Appropriately enough, Casa Samba first emerged in 1986 during the Mardi Gras season.
 Casa Samba's performances combine dance, theater, vocals and drumming to capture the spirit of Carnival in Brazil, as well as presenting a history of the African influence of its culture, music and dance. Just as "second line is to New Orleans, so is samba to Brazil." Our performances presents audiences with a folkloric show that includes the sounds of the Amazon; Candomble, a cultural representation of African spiritual dances of the orixas; Maculele (a stick dance); Capoeira,, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts form, and other folkloric dances. The show culminates with a finale the start people moving on to the infectious samba beat to a fantastic re-creation of Carnival parade of Brazil. All costumes, songs, and dance performances are authentically faithful to Brazilian tradition.

LEADERSHIP  next

Curtis Pierre  
 
Curtis Pierre is the group's artistic director and founder. He specializes in Brazilian percussion, capoeira and is well known as one of the three best pandeiro acrobats in this country. Curtis Pierre first learned about Brazilian percussion in the early 80's, through a long association with renowned Brazilian master percussionist Airto Moreira. Pierre honed his skills through frequent visits to Brazil. He has been most influenced by the music of Salgueiro, Mangueira, Vila Isabel, and Mocidade Independente, Olodum and Ile Aye that are Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) in Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. He has spent the past 8 years studying under Jorge "Alabe" Bezerra, In addition, Pierre for the last 10 years has studied Capoeira Angola with master Cobrinha Mansa.

 
Jorge "Alabe" Bezerra   top
 
 Jorge Bezerra also known as Jorge "Alabe", a renown master drummer of the Escolas de Samba of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His most recent experience has been with the international touring group "Oba Oba" of which he has been a member for the past 15 years. "Oba Oba" is the internationally renown Brazilian showcase highlighting Brazil's rich cultural heritage through music, songs, and dance. He was also the director of the Minas Gerias Samba School in Bela Horizonte, Brazil. 
   Before joining "Oba Oba" he spent 30 years of his life playing for the most respected Candomble

 
houses in Brazil and for the last twenty years he has held the title of "Alabe" which means that he has obtained the highest level drummer in the Candomble religion. This name is rarely bestowed on drummers unless they have been initiated, mastered and have years of experience in Candomble rituals. Most notably he has played with "Casa Senora da Cadieos de Oshun". He has taught classes on Candomble drumming at the Afro-Brazilian Cultural Institute lead by Meceges Batista, a famous Afro-Brazilian cultural historian. 
 
  Currently he is doing a residency in New Orleans with Escola de Samba, Casa Samba. In addition, Jorge Alabe has conducted workshops on Candomble and Samba in Alaska, Seattle, Chicago, San Antonio, Austin, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, and Wisconsin. Jorge is a featured artist on a recently released CD entitled BATA KETU: A Musical Interplay of Cuba and Brazil, which brings together Candomble rhythms and songs of Brazil with the Afro-Cuban rhythms and songs of Santeria religion.
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