Marcel Camargo was raised in Brazil by a musical extended family. He began learning guitar, percussion, and singing with his uncle. He moved to America at the age 16 and earned his B.A. He received his B.A. in Ethnomusicology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Although his interests varied, he was drawn to folk music from all over the globe. Marcel concentrated his studies on America’s greatest folk idiom, Jazz. Marcel was privileged to study under some of Jazz’s most important musicians, including Kenny Burrell and Billy Higgins, Gerald Land, Gerald, and Anthony Wilson. He also studied traditional Ghanaian music with Kobla Ladzekpo (with whom he later traveled to Ghana). Marcel has been a professional musician since his graduation from UCLA. He can be found in many places across the United States as well as internationally. He currently lives in Los Angeles and works as both a sideman or as a lead singer. Marcel Camargo and The Brazil You Never Heard is his own project. This concert series features Marcel’s arrangements in the context of a chamber Orchestra. The group’s music is a mixture of Brazilian, Classical and Jazz. Although the music is not always from Brazil, the arrangements add a Brazilian flavor to everything. He is a sideman who plays guitar and sings backup vocals for Michael Buble, an international pop star. His sideman work includes collaborations with R, as well as working with jazz and Brazilian legends like Tom Harrell, Airto Moreira and Sergio Mendes.
