Percussionist RAFAEL “RAFA” PEREIRA celebrated July 4, 2016, in the White House, sitting at the dinner table alongside the president and first lady. It’s one of the job perks of being the percussionist for Janelle Monáe’s live band. Such an evening would be the highlight of anyone’s year, but for Pereira, this has been a year of highlights. In addition to becoming a father, Pereira released his latest album, Zabaduo, a collection of hypnotic Brazilian-flavored numbers with bass player Charlie Wooton, on his self-run Tribo Records label — an offshoot of Ropeadope Records that Pereira uses to showcase Brazilian talent from Georgia and abroad. Pereira has an uncanny ability to adapt as a musician. The Brazilian-born Atlanta transplant has spent the last 13 years in the city allowing his South American percussion style to flourish without letting it define him as an artist. What makes a good musician great is the ability to adapt to whatever the situation calls for. Whether picking up a wedding gig with OutKast cohorts Horns Inc., rolling out polyrhythms alongside Wooten, or guiding the retro-future rhythms of Monáe’s R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and sci-fi show on stages everywhere from the clubs to the White House, Pereira’s résumé from the last year alone raises the bar high for musicians around the world.
