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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

Steel Pan Ensemble to perform this weekend

The Jacobs School of Music’s Steel Pan Ensemble will perform at 1 p.m. Sunday in Sweeney Hall.

Michael Spiro, associate professor of percussion at the music school, is the director of the ensemble.

He is a world-renowned percussionist, recording artist and educator, known specifically for his work in the Latin music field, ?according to a music school press release.

Spiro has a bachelor’s degree with honors in Latin American Studies from the University of California and three and a half years of graduate work in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington.

His practical education consists of a seven-year apprenticeship with Francisco Aguabella and extensive study throughout Latin America, according to the music school.

He has studied annually in Cuba since 1984 with musicians such as José Luis Quintana, Esteban Vega ?Bacalla, Daniel Diaz and Juan Blanco of Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, Regino ?Jiménez, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Grupo ?Afrocuba de Matanzas.

Spiro currently resides in San Francisco, where he is an integral part of the Bay Area music scene.

He records and produces with groups throughout the West Coast and tours worldwide with the percussion trio, Talking Drums, which he co-leads with David ?Garibaldi and Jesus Diaz.

In June 1996, his ?recording “Bata Ketu” was released on Bembé Records with international critical acclaim, including being voted one of the top 50 drum records of all time by “Drum!” magazine, according to the music school.

In 2004, Spiro received a Grammy nomination for his work as both producer and artist on Mark Levine’s Latin and jazz release “Isla.”

In 2005, he released “BataMbira,” which he wrote and produced with Professor B. Michael ?Williams.

That same year, he was voted runner-up in the jazz and fusion category in the “Drum!” Readers’ Choice Awards.

In 2006, Chuck Sher Publications released his book, “The Conga Drummer’s Guidebook,” and it has already become the standard in the field for intermediate and advanced instruction, according to the music school.

Spiro is a frequent visiting artist at universities worldwide.

In addition to his position in the jazz department at the University of California, Berkeley, Spiro has taught at numerous colleges throughout North America and Europe.

He continues to be a presenter at national and statewide conventions of the Percussive Arts Society and the International Association of Jazz Educators.

In addition, he has recorded on soundtracks to such major motion pictures as “Soapdish,” “Henry and June,” “True Stories,” “Sworn To The Drum,” “Walker” and “Eddie Macon’s Run and Dragon: The Life of Bruce Lee.”

He also wrote several arrangements for the Tony Award-winning Broadway show “BLAST!” that was released on video by PBS in 2002.

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