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ORIGEM BAND
About the Artist
The Brazilian music group Origem has been performing in the Washington metropolitan area for over 15 years, fostering public awareness of Brazilian culture through their music. Origem has performed in many local and national music festivals and venues such as the Kennedy Center, Carter Baron Amphitheater, The National Gallery of Art, the Taste of D.C. Festival, and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. The group performs a variety of Brazilian music styles, such as samba, bossa nova, forro, afoxe, and maracatu, from the Southeast and Northeast regions of Brazil. Origem was awarded a grant by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 1998 to record a CD, and its co-founders and leaders, Alejandro and Leonardo Lucini, have both been nominated as “Best Latin Musicians” by the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA). Internationally awarded and recognized musicians have performed with Origem such as: Benito Gonzales (piano), Frederico Pena (piano), Gregoire Marett (harmonica), Raul Mascarenhas(saxophone), Peter Fraize (saxophone), Bruno Lucini (percussion), and many others. Origem is driven by true musical expression with no preoccupation other than a desire to let the music flow to where it wants to go.
Leonardo Lucini is electric and double bassist, teacher, composer and arranger in the Washington DC area. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mr. Lucini records and performs locally and abroad with a variety of local and international artists such as flutist Nestor Torres, Raul Mascarenhas, Chris Vadalla, Benito Gonzalez, Federico Pena, Vince Evans, Gregoir Mauret and guitar duo Young & Rollins. He also performs with his own band Origem, a Washington DC-based group that plays original Brazilian jazz.
In Brazil, he performed with well-known groups and artists such as Nó Em Pingo D'Agua, saxophonist Paulo Moura and the Orquestra de Música Brasileira. As a teacher, Mr. Lucini has taught privately and at institutions such as Levine school of Music, Goucher College, George Washington University, George Mason University and the University of Maryland. Currently, Mr. Lucini is the director of the award-winning Hyattsville Middle School for the Performing Arts String Orchestra and conducts summer camps and workshops at different educational institutions. As a graduate of Howard University and member of the internationally known Howard University Jazz Ensemble, Mr. Lucini had the opportunity to perform with Jazz greats such as Benny Golson , Jimmy Heath, Terence Blanchard, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Phill Woods, Kenny Burrell and Wynton Marsalis. Mr. Lucini also holds a Masters Degree in Music from The University of Maryland and is currently a candidate for the Doctorate Degree in music at the University of Maryland.
Alejandro Lucini was born in Rio de Janeiro and studied at the Escola de Musica de Brasilia with master percussionist Ney Rosauro. He later attended classes at the Pro-Arte School of Music, the University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He was a member of the Rio de Janeiro Youth Orchestra and later of the Brasilia Symphony Orchestra. Having become well known for his skills in percussion, he began performing with many celebrated musicians and by 1990 had toured Berlin with the Brazilian group, Nó Em Pingo D'Agua. That same year he moved to the United States, having developed his own method of teaching and having published the book Brazilian Rhythms for Percussion and Drums. He then received a Bachelor of Music Education, 1997 from Howard University. Since then, he has performed with numerous musicians, including The Canadian Brass and many local celebrities. Prof. Lucini has received awards from the International Association of Jazz Education and has been nominated multiple times for Washington Area Music Awards recognition. In 2002 he was named by WAMA as Best Latino Instrumentalist. His Brazilian jazz group has performed at locations across the Washington Metropolitan area, including the World Bank and the Library of Congress. Lucini received a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts in 1994 to promote recordings of his group, which included his own original compositions and arrangements. He recently joined the George Washington University faculty where he leads the Latin band Los Gringos, in addition to playing with the Faculty Jazz Quintet and teaching Latin percussion.
Brazilian percussionist and drummer Bruno Lucini is open-minded to world's musical diversity and its wide vocabulary of rhythms and percussion instruments. He loves to play the Brazilian pandeiro, pepique, cuica, surdo, and berimbau; the Latin congas, timbales, bongo, guiro, and tambora; the Spanish flamenco cajón, the Arabian derbak, the African djembe, and various electronic percussion sets. Since 99 has been working in the Washington and New York City areas playing Latin jazz, salsa and Brazilian music with well-known groups and musicians such as ORIGEM , his brothers Alejandro and Leonardo Lucini, Dan Reynolds, Alfredo Mojica, Patrick deSantos, Dani Cortaza, Arch Thompson and Visions of Jazz, Rita Ferreira, and others. He appears in concerts at nationally recognized places in the Washington and New York areas, like the Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center, Silver Spring Jazz Fest, Sculpture Garden Jazz, Blues Alley, Smithsonian Jazz Café, and many more. In Brazil he works mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, and his hometown Brasilia.
Past Performances
June 15, 2009
The Brazilian jazz band plays a variety of music styles from the Southeast and Northeast regions of its homeland, such as samba, bossa nova, forro, afoxe, and maracatu.
June 22, 2008
The band brings a variety of Brazilian music styles from the Southeast and Northeast regions, such as samba, bossa nova, forro, afoxe, and maracatu.
April 28, 2002
The Brazilian jazz band Origem emphasizes traditional Afro-Brazilian rhythms. PERFORMANCE PLUS
June 25, 2000
Origem educates listeners about Brazilian culture through jazz. Presented in conjunction with the 2000 Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a component of "Washington D.C.: It's Our Home," produced in collaboration with the Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
