NEW ALBANY, IN (March 31, 2011) – Brazilian musician Cyro Baptista will bring his unique sound to the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center at IU Southeast in April as part of the Global Village Series.

Baptista and a trio of up-and-coming musicians sing and play an array of instruments, blending African and Brazilian folk instruments like the mbira, gimbre, berimbau and balafon with electric keyboards, drum set, electric bass, and even bizarre homemade percussion instruments.

Baptista is a renowned musician who has performed on five Grammy Award-winning albums and collaborated with artist include Yo-Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Melissa Etheridge, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg. Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis called Baptista “one the greatest musicians in the world.”

His latest project is Banquet of the Spirits, a quartet featuring three of the best young musicians out of the New York City downtown scene.  The quartet embodies the philosophy of Anthropofagia, a Brazilian cultural movement from the 1920’s. The band is a musical manifestation of the process of eating, swallowing, and digesting all the tendencies that are part of the sonic landscape and environment. The music is the product of all sounds that they have collectively consumed over the years; some of them they’ve digested and others they have rejected.

Baptista will take the Ogle Center stage at 8 p.m., Friday, April 8. Tickets are $26.50 or $10 for students. Please call (812) 941-2525 for more information.