Luis Rodrigues
- Percussion
Luis was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. He started playing pots and pans at the age of 3, and at the age of 12 he taught himself how to play some of the popular Venezuelan rhythms he would hear on the radio such as gaitas, parrandas and drums from the central coast. During high school, Luis performed as a drummer at many of the school's events and friend's and family's concerts.
While still in Venezuela, Luis enrolled at the Instituto Universitario de Tecnologia in Caracas and graduated with a Computer Science degree. In March of 1990, he decided to move to California to further his studies, obtaining a BC in Computer science from Cal Hayward University.
In 1997, Luis joined the Venezuelan Music Project as a percussionist. Since then, he has expanded his knowledge on the many different forms of Venezuelan percussion and music. Luis has studied with Jackeline Rago and master Venezuelan percussionist Alexander Livinalli in Venezuela and the US.
During his tenure at VMP he has performed in selected musical events and music halls all across California such as the San Jose Jazz Festival, Esalen Institute Arts and Music Festival, California World Music Fest, Festival at the Lake, Earth Day Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, San Francisco Carnaval, the Encuentro del Canto Popular at the the Great American Music Hall, La Peña Cultural Center, Palace of Fine Arts, Ashkenaz and Head Lands Center for the Arts among many others. He has shared the stage with master Venezuelan musicians such as Alexander Livinalli, Aquiles Baez and Jackeline Rago as well as Latin American percussionists Jesus Diaz, Edgardo Cambon and John Santos.
Luis thanks Jackeline Rago and the other members of VMP for giving him the chance to grow musically by learning from each other and sharing the stage for over 9 years.
