Robert Lopez

Bio:
Robert Lopez is a percussionist and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His background in various types of music such as folkloric traditions of Brazil, Ghana and Cuba, alongside contemporary chamber music and free improvisation, allow him to maintain a malleable approach to sharing musical ideas. He holds a Bachelors of Music from Cal State University Long Beach and a Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Improvisation from Mills College. Since 2011, he has been an active member of the Bay Area music community working with groups SO AR, the Oakland Active Orchestra, Quattour Elephantis, Grex and Jordan Glenn’s BEAK among others. He has been a dance accompanist at Mills College, UC Berkeley, ODC and Sonoma State. Since 2014 he has maintained a close relationship with master drummer Jorge Alabê. This partnership has led to awards from the Fulbright US Student Program for projects “Cultural Transmission through the Music of Candomblé” (2022) and “Investigating the Language of Candomblé Drumming” (2020), a grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (2018) and first-place in the Brazilian category with Grupo Samba Rio in San Francisco’s Carnaval (2018 and 2019). He currently teaches drum set and hand percussion at the San Francisco Community Music Center and the San Francisco Waldorf High School.

Links:
media - @bohbbylolo

San Francisco Community Music Center - https://sfcmc.org/support/donate/

Iuri Passos Master’s Thesis - https://repositorio.ufba.br/handle/ri/31383

2020 Fulbright story - https://www.kqed.org/arts/13878162/how-coronavirus-derailed-a-fulbright-fellows-musicological-research-in-brazil

FICA Studio in Oakland - https://www.ficaoakland.com/

Silvia Manrique’s video:
https://youtu.be/A7VVDJYX0gA?si=nmtq5Nh5uQDWiPDs

Robert Lopez and Jorge Alabe

Creative Encounters

Freddie the Skinny pig!

San Francisco Carnaval