125 – Rafael Pereira: Playing with Janelle Monae, Bringing Brazil to Atlanta, Growing Up On Samba Tradition and Pop Records

Working Drummer · Jul 19, 2017 · 59m

Rafael Pereira was born and raised in Sao Paolo, Brazil. As a kid he began playing piano, guitar and percussion, and along with his brother, fell in love with the traditional Samba and Choro music of Brazil. He first came to the U.S. as an exchange student in high school, and spent a year in Idaho. After he returned to Brazil, his father got a business opportunity in Atlanta and Rafa made the move with him. In addition to Atlanta’s Brazilian community of about 60,000, Rafael found immediate opportunities to play all sorts of gigs on drums and percussion. He played percussion alongside two of…