A contemporary percussionist and educator from Brazil, Marcus Santos has performed internationally and has shared the stage with artists such as Paquito D'Rivera (9 Grammy wins), The Brand New Heavies, Orchestra La Passion (Osvaldo Golijov) and the Gipsy Kings.



The Brazilian Immigrant Center honored Marcos Santos with the Outstanding Arts Performer award and Berklee College of Music has awarded him as Outstanding Percussionist.



In 2004, hand drummer Marcus Santos from Salvador city in Bahia, Brazil, began a new concept in drumming: Grooversity , an innovative and creative drumming system that Marcus has developed for education and entertainment purposes.



It promotes community outreach and social change by targeting diversity awareness. This multi-city percussion project is creating a network of people.



Grooversity’s network includes people of different ethnicities, ages, and races. It portrays a positive message by engaging communities to appreciate diversity, support civil rights, encourage self-esteem, and most importantly, enjoyment.



The Grooversity system is Marcus’ original drumming compositions based on the traditional Afro Brazilian rhythms, which he has combined with a world music perspective and a modern approach.



Marcus Santos produced his own dvd 'Modern Approach to Pandeiro', and the dvd 'Musically Speaking II' together with Bose. He is also featured on Rush drummer Neil Peart's new dvd by Hudson Music.



Marcus Santos leads workshops on Afro-Brazilian percussion and music for social change in universities and conventions around the world (MIT, Harvard, Brown U, Universidad Central de Venezuela and PASIC 2007, 2010 and 2011).



Marcus Santos is currently the director of the Grooversity network and artistically directs drumming groups in seven different states in the US.