To be a drummer is her passion and profession but not her only talent. Vera Figueiredo is a piano graduated composer as well as the Dean and the coordinator of the Instituto de Bateria Vera Figueiredo and an event producer. She dedicates herself to the diffusion of the Brazilian music and culture by bringing it country-wide and abroad through participating in shows, workshops and some of the most important national and international festivals
Records
Vera has already three solo records on her discography: Vera Figueiredo & Convidados (Baratos Afins-1990), From Brasil (Camerati-1995) and Vera Cruz Island (Rainbow Records-2004). She is responsible by the artistic production and plays on the two records derived from the Batuka! International Drum Fest and released respectively on the years of 1998 and 2004 besides participating of other projects. Click here to know more about it.
Festivals
She is each time more often seen among the attractions of some of the most important drum set and percussion festivals in the world. Below, a list of some she had already performed on:
- • AGP Drum Event (Steinsel – Luxemburgo)
- • Days of Percussion (Estocolmo – Suécia)
- • Drum Fest Chile (Concepción – Chile)
- • Kosa International Percussion Workshop – Kosa Eleven (Vermont – EUA)
- • Mendoza International Drum Fest (Mendoza – Argentina)
- • Montréal Drum Fest (Montréal – Canadá)
- • Percfest Jazz Festival – Memorial Naco (Laigueglia – Itália)
- • PercuSonidos – Festival Internacional de Percusiones (Tampico – México)
- • Tercer Festival de Percusión Patagonia (Patagônia – Argentina)
- • The Cape Breton International Drum Fest (Cape Breton – Canadá)
- • The Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Melbourne – Austrália)
Other works
Played and recorded with some major names of the Brazilian music among them the trombone player Bocato and the pianist Eliane Elias. This eclectic list is fulfilled by some international artists like the American Bruce Scott and the Canadian Anna Jacyszyn. Vera was the founder of the instrumental band Kali which released an album by the Som Da Gente label; she also an active participant of the Avon Women In Concert project being playing with its female orchestra with the American singer Diana King and the Brazilians Rita Lee, Paula Lima, Zélia Duncan, Vanessa da Mata, the singer and composer Milton Nascimento and the female percussion groups Toque Leoa and Xicas da Silva. Still on the Avon Women in Concert project, performed with the San Francisco Female Orchestra, accompanying the singers Daniela Mercury, Leila Pinheiro and Nana Caymmi.
Plays on the Altas Horas TV show since its premiere in 2001 being a permanent member of its band which gets the same name.
Didadicts
Vera Figueiredo had already released by the Aprenda Música the following instructional videos: Os 40 Rudimentos and Ritmos Afro-Brasileiros/Influência Afro-Cubana. Click here to know more about it.
International
Vera Figueiredo plays on the 11th anniversary’s celebration DVD of The Ultimate Drummers Weekend festival released in Australia (2003). She also appears on the international catalogs of Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks as well as in national publications. Click here to know more about it.
Batuka!
Vera Figueiredo idealized and has being accomplishing the Batuka! International Drum Fest. This is the major drum set and percussion event in Brazil and, is also in the list of the most important events of this kind in the world. Check the festival’s official website: www.batukabrasil.com.