Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro (Carlos de Oliveira) is one of the world's leading performers on the pandeiro. Over the last 50 years he has recorded and toured with Herbie Mann, Ed Thigpen, Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho, Maria Bethania, and Sergio Mendes. He appeared regularly on Globo TV and Radio Naçional during the late '60s and '70s such as ‘Alerta Geral’ with Alcione, and ‘Brasil Pandiero’ with Betty Faria, as well as with Carlos Machada, Ataulfo Alves de Sousa, Emilinha Borba, and Jackson do Pandeiro. Carlinhos’s original songs have been featured in the 1978 movie Samba da Criação do Mundo and on several albums of the Swedish pop icon, Sylvia Vrethammar, with whom he toured for many years.

Carlinhos’s musical roots began at a very young age with the great samba school Mangueira. Jamelão, the legendary singer for Mangueira noticed his playing and dancing during a rehearsal and recruited him. Carlinhos was inspired early on by Ruso do Pandeiro, who played with Carmen Miranda, spinning his pandeiro on his fingers. Carlinhos took that performance aspect to another level and was the first to develop many of the pandeiro juggling maneuvers, now called malabarismo, still in use today. For this he was known as the “Garotinho da Mangueira” and became a fixture in the Mangueira parades at Carnaval, juggling his pandeiro and dancing at the front of the group; a position he has performed for over 50 years now.

His first big break came at the age of 14 when director Marcel Camus tapped him for the part of Zeca in the 1959 movie “Orfeu Negro”. Carlinhos is memorable in the film for his energetic dancing and pandeiro playing.

In 1966 a he obtained the title “Pandeiro de Ouro” by winning the first national contest to determine the best pandeiro player in Brazil. Over 500 pandeiristas competed in the first round. Carlinhos won the final round held in Maracanã soccer stadium and in addition to the title received two golden pandeiros. Since then he has been honored many times around the world. Most recently he was awarded the 2006 Master Musician's Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation in California.

Today Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro primarily resides in Los Angeles. Aside from his performance schedule, he is a master instructor at the California Brazil camp in Cazadero and at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.

Visit Carlinhos' website at www.carlinhospandeirodeouro.com