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Kiko Freitas was born in Porto Alegre in August 16, 1969.
At four, he started playing BOMBO LEGUERO (typical instrument from the South of Brazil and Argentina) accompanying his father, the musician Telmo de Lima Freitas. His mother Beatriz Castro, as a singer, also influenced Kiko in his connection with music.
At the age of eight years, he started to study acoustic guitar and, at the same time, was always playing in boxes, furniture, and anything that would produce any sound. When he was 12, electric bass interested him, playing in a band among his family.
His cousins would play the guitar and sing, his sister Ana was playing another guitar, and the drummer was Luiz Paulo, “the german”.
When “the German” missed some rehearsals, Kiko started filling out and by intuition was playing the drums. That was when his passion for his instrument started.
He started playing as a professional in 1987, after studying with Argos Montenegro and at the “Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre” school.
Kiko was always making researches and studying different techniques and drummers. He used books like “Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and Joe Morello” to learn the rudiments and general techniques. After that, Kiko transcribed Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa’s solos, and kept researching as much as he could. On brazilian drumming, Kiko listened and studied the drummers Milton Banana, Edson Machado, Robertinho Silva, Nenê, Carlos Bala, Pascoal Meirelles, and many others.
But it was when he met the maestro and piano player Paulo Dorfman that Kiko really started learning the Jazz language. Paulo called Kiko to play with his group at the club "Sala Jazz Tom Jobim" in Porto Alegre and helped him a lot with many aspects of Jazz drumming."
In the 90´s, he was already one of the top drummers in Brazil, participating in many concerts, recording sessions, and workshops. He was invited to play with the great bass player Nico Assumpção to record his solo CD, and was indicated to play with many artists by the same. Such as Michel Legrand, João Bosco, Frank Gambale, Jeff Richman and many others. Kiko Has also played with great players, such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Jeff Andrews, Cliff Korman, Armando Marçal, Luiz Avellar, Ney Conseição, Nelson Faria, Edsel Gomez, Nivaldo Ornellas, Ricardo Silveira, Widor Santiago, Idriss Boudriua, Rafael Vernet, Frank Solari, Renato Borghetti, Jamil Joanes, Vítor Ramil, Ricardo Baumgarten, Julio “Chumbinho” Herrlein, Ivan Lins, Lula Galvão, Sérgio Galvão, Carlos Henriques, Luiz Eça, Felipe Lamoglia, and others.
In 1996, he was invited by the piano player David Goldblatt to go to L.A. There, Kiko had the opportunity to meet many jazz musicians such Dough Lunn, Vadeem Zilberstein, John Leftwich, and had the big chance to verify if his autodidact researches were proceeding having lessons with Dave Weckl.
In Cuba, Kiko studied afro-Cuban rhythms with the great percussion player Changuito, creator of the Songo, also played with Ricardo Baungarten at the biggest jazz club in Havana.
As an educator, Kiko has been carrying out many workshops in Brazil and abroad, at events such as:
National Brazilian Drummers Festival, Masters of the Drums, Salão Internacional da Bateria, Encontro Latino Americano de Percussão (UFSM), Curitiba Memorial, Conservatório de MPB, Göteborg Music University, Sweden, beyond his private classes.
Currently, Kiko is playing in João Bosco´s Band, with Ney Conceição (b) and Nelson Faria (g). Every year they make tours around Brazil, USA and Europe, including concerts with the great Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
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