Ari Colares
forty years of musical journeys
One of the most important Brazilian percussionists, a renowned researcher of traditional rhythms and mentor to countless percussionists, Ari Colares celebrates forty years of musical career dedicated to the investigation, teaching and practice of percussion in Brazil.
Holding a Bachelor's degree in percussion and a Master's degree in Music Education from USP (University of São Paulo), he began his career as an artist at age 17 in a popular theater group (Abaçaí – Cultura e Arte), researching and producing shows about the diversity of Brazilian folk dances. Ari remained in this group for 25 years.
Based on these experiences, he began to have a constant presence as a musician and educator, both in Brazil and abroad, playing with important names in creative music such as Naná Vasconcelos, Mônica Salmaso, Benjamin Taubkin, Arnaldo Antunes, Toninho Ferragutti, Egberto Gismonti, Toninho Carrasqueira, Yamandu Costa, Gil Jardim, Ceumar, Pena Branca and Xavantinho, Palavra Cantada, Zizi Possi, Vanessa da Mata and many others.
He participated as a guest soloist in three concerts by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London in São Paulo under the baton of Ettore Stratta, and in a series of shows in São Paulo with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Orchestra, alongside Hamilton de Holanda and Nailor Proveta.
He also participated in numerous projects with pianist Benjamim Taubkin – with whom he traveled to several countries, notably Clareira (repertoire of Brazilian Popular Culture with universal sounds), Al Qantara (Brazil and Morocco), Co-Bra Project (Brazil and South Korea), América Contemporânea (musicians from various Latin American countries) and Orquestra Popular de Câmara. Since 2004, he has been part of the musical group A Barca, which experiences and aesthetically dialogues with different masters and expressions of Brazilian popular culture.
He taught Popular Percussion at Tom Jobim EMESP – Escola de Música de SP, from 1993 to 2017. Currently, in addition to courses and workshops in Brazil and abroad, he teaches regular classes in his studio and is part of the faculty of the Music course at Faculdade Santa Marcelina, where he also coordinates the postgraduate course “Popular Percussion - Tradition and Invention”.
In 2026, he released his first album of original compositions, Ari Colares e a Canoa, featuring his own compositions and arrangements of traditional songs from different regions of Brazil, enriched by the participation of musicians who have marked his career.