Ladama

LADAMA is a Latin alternative band of four women musicians and activists—Lara Klaus, Daniela Serna, Maria "Mafer Bandola" González Olivo and Sara Lucas—originating from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States respectively, along with their collaborator, American bassist Pat Swoboda. Their music fuses sounds from South America and the Caribbean with soul, R&B, and pop.[2]

LADAMA
LADAMA in 2019
Background information
Origin	Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, United States
Genres	Cumbia, maracatu, joropo, soul, pop[1]
Years active	2014 (2014)–present
Labels	Six Degrees
Associated acts	Callers
Website	ladamaproject.org
Members	Mafer Bandola Lara Klaus Daniela Serna Sara Lucas

In addition to public performances, LADAMA holds educational workshops in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, where they hope to provide a foundation for participants to "use music as a basic form of personal expression to address issues pertinent to them."[3] LADAMA continues to perform and offer workshops at venues and festivals around the world.[4] LADAMA seeks to empower primarily women and youth (but everyone is welcome) through these interactive musical experiences.[3]

History

The quartet formed in 2014 while touring the West Coast as part of the OneBeat Program.[1] Their self-titled debut album was released September 8, 2017 on Six Degrees Records and reached No. 1 on both iTunes and Amazon’s Latin Music Charts in January 2018.[2] It contains mostly new songs written and performed by the band members, embracing a variety of Latin American musical genres.[5] LADAMA has performed at TED, the Skoll World Forum, the 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival[6] and on ESPN’s hispanic heritage special "The Latino Experience", which aired on October 10, 2017.[2] In January 2018, they were featured on NPR's All Things Considered, which praised their "irresistible spirit and universal appeal."[7] Their second album titled Oye Mujer (“Hey Woman”) is scheduled for release on July 10, 2020."[8]

Band members

• Mafer Bandola (María Fernanda González Olivo) is a multi-instrumentalist[9] and songwriter from Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Though she studied the mandolin, the cuatro and the violin, her primary instrument is the Bandola llanera. She was recognized as the world's best female bandola llanera player at the XXVI International Bandola Llanera Pedro Flores Festival in 2018. In addition to her performative mastery of the bandola llanera, Mafer Bandola is also a student of social communication, having studied at the University of Yacambú,[10] and an educator, teaching advanced classes on the bandola llanera and working to create and codify a new way of teaching the instrument.[9]
• Lara Klaus is a Recife, Brazil-based drummer, percussionist, singer, songwriter[11] and educator.[12] Her percussion instruments include pandeiro, alfaia, and zabumba, among others.[13] She has played at numerous music festivals around the world (Montreux Jazz Festival [Switzerland], Latino Americando Festival [Italy], Samba Festival [Germany]) and taught all-ages workshops throughout South America, Europe and the United States.[12] Klaus has performed with Elba Ramalho, Roberto Menescal, Moraes Moreira and Emílio Santiago and other Brazilian musicians.[14] In March 2018 Lara released Força do Gesto on Six Degrees Records, a solo album exploring a variety of styles and instruments which features Klaus on drum-kit and guitar.[15]
• Daniela Serna is a Bogotá-based composer, percussionist, educator and sound artist. Serna was noticed in 2012 after winning a Señal Radio Colombia contest to perform with legendary folk-singer bullerengue queen Petrona Martínez. In 2014 she presented "Bullerengue Covers," a sound installation exploring the sonics of tambour alegre (hand drum) and surrounding space for which El Puente, her experimental duo with Uva Lunera, composed the music.[16] In the same year, Serna co-founded an all-female Caribbean folk band La Perla, and performed with the group until 2017. Serna continues to teach traditional Caribbean Colombian music styles (bullerengue, gaita, cumbia, porro, fandango) and perform with LADAMA.[17]
• Sara Lucas is a New York City-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. Before LADAMA, Lucas co-founded the band Callers with Ryan Seaton, with which she produced three full-length albums (Fortune, Life of Love and Reviver) and a seven-inch split with Luaka Bop artist, Delicate Steve.[18] In 2012, Callers featured on WNYC’s Soundcheck on Spinning on Air.[19] The group has since performed at numerous festivals (Primavera Club, Tanned Tin Festival, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry at BAM, Festival de la Musica Nelle, Hillside Fest), toured with Dirty Projectors, Here We Go Magic, ESG and Wye Oak and shared stages with Nat Baldwin, Patti Smith, Arto Lindsay and Tune-Yards. In 2015 Lucas began serving as a facilitator for production workshops with youth in Brooklyn and Hudson, NY with Found Sound Nation and Hear Be Dragons. Lucas is currently working on a solo record.[20]

Discography

• LADAMA (2017)
• Oye Mujer (July 10, 2020)

References

1. Johnson, Catalina Maria (18 May 2018). "LADAMA: The Pan-Latinx Sound of Self-Actualization". NPR. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
2. "Press Kit". LADAMA. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
3. "For Pan-American Band LADAMA, Empowering Other Women Is The Ultimate Reward". wbur.org. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
4. "Agrupación Ladama le canta a las mujeres de América Latina". Diario Las Américas. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
5. Johnson-Laird, Dorothy (17 January 2018). "Interview with Ladama". World Music Central. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
6. "LADAMA | 61st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival". www.montereyjazzfestival.org. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
7. "In Debut Album, Ladama Reinterprets Sounds From 4 Countries". NPR. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
8. "LADAMA'S "Inmigrante" Is a Vivacious Celebration of Immigrants (premiere)".
9. "Maria Fernanda Gonzalez". OneBeat. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
10. "LADAMA: A Latin odyssey with lots of rhythm". AL DÍA News. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
11. "Notícias: Lara Klaus ministra curso iniciante de Percussão Popular no Recife – Batera.com.br". batera.com.br. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
12. "Lara Klaus na FOLHA FM". Folha PE. 25 August 2017.
13. "Lara Klaus". OneBeat. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
14. "Entrevistas: Lara Klaus: Baterista e percussionista do Brasil para o mundo – Batera.com.br". batera.com.br. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
15. https://www.sixdegreesrecords.com/lara-klaus/
16. https://anchor.fm/femalex/episodes/World-music-Daniela-Serna-ev66k
17. https://1beat.org/people/daniela-serna/
18. https://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/133086826/callers-better-living-through-limitation
19. https://www.wnyc.org/story/234378-callers-studio/
20. http://www.talkhouse.com/sara-lucas-talks/

External links

• LADAMA Official Website
• LADAMA on Facebook
• LADAMA on Instagram