2005 Presenter Full Presenter List

Samba Squad

Batacuda Ensemble

Toronto’s Samba Squad is an award-winning ‘batacuda’, featuring over 35 percussionists, and led by celebrated musician Rick Shadrach Lazar.

Evoking the Brazilian beats of world drums, vocals and dancing, Samba Squad received the 2001 Urban Music Association of Canada’s Award for Best World Music recording.

They have played for the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, as well as regular appearances on The Toronto Show. “Thrill Sergeant”, Rick Lazar, has worked with the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Barry White, and Paul Shaffer, and is an ongoing collaborator with Loreena McKennitt.

He has been voted Jazz Report Magazine’s Percussionist of the Year for 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Lazar teaches Samba Drumming at York University, as well as instructing Latin Ensembles at Humber College of Music.

His Samba Squad can be seen in clubs, street festivals, and everywhere in between. Says www.salsaspot.com, “If one really wants to know where salsa gets some of its roots from, then a visit to any Samba Squad performance will answer that question.”