Marcelo Amaro - Afro-Brazilian Loops Experience

Marcelo Amaro brings his Afro-Brazilian Loops Experience to Merton College Chapel on Friday 23 October, starting at 17:15. It's a one-man show that builds a full band sound from a single performer on stage, and if you've never seen live looping done this way, it's a good place to start.

Amaro is a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, educator and music producer, and this particular set is built around the sounds of Brazil. He works with voice, cavaquinho — the small four-string guitar central to samba — and percussion, layering them on the fly using a looper. The result is a full, rhythmic sound that he builds in front of you, rather than something played back from a recording. He describes the whole thing as a journey through ancestry, samba and the sounds of Brazil, and it's as much about the process as the music itself.

It's not a sit-back-and-listen kind of gig, either. Alongside the looping, there's improvisation and audience participation, so the set changes depending on who's in the room. The cavaquinho provides the bright, driving melody, the percussion holds the groove, and his voice sits on top, all looping together into a samba that grows as the evening goes on. If you're into Brazilian music, it's a chance to hear how those sounds are constructed from the ground up.

It's free to attend, and the chapel is on Merton Street in the heart of the city. The start time is 17:15 on Friday 23 October, so it's an early one — a good way to kick off the weekend with some samba in the mix.