ABOUT

Iúri Oliveira

MUSICIAN | MULTI PERCUSSIONIST | COMPOSER | TOUR | STUDIO | EDUCATOR

©Manuel Abelho

Percussionist, multi-percussionist, composer, researcher, sound designer, and music producer. He graduated from The Rhythm Studio (London School of Popular Music) and Drumdrumdrum in the Netherlands. An active performer in multiple percussion styles and rhythmic traditions, he explores a variety of sounds ranging from Fado to World Music, Latin Jazz to Fusion, Pop to South American sounds, and from electronic music to free improvisation.

Currently, he is one of the most creative, expressive, and sophisticated names in Portuguese music, known for his unique and broad approach. This has led him to collaborate with musicians and composers from various musical genres around the world, including soundtracks for film and theater.

With extensive live performance experience, especially as a sideman, he has performed on some of the most iconic stages in Portugal and around the world, including the iconic MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where he performed with Madonna at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

He actively collaborates as a studio musician for artists worldwide, such as The Cinematic Orchestra, Hélder Moutinho, Nancy Vieira, among others, and also from his personal studio, where he adds his inspiration to the knowledge he absorbed from mentors like Giovanni Hidalgo, Marcelo Wolosky, Roël Callister, Marcus Santana, and Jarrod Cagwin. He creates unique universes and intentions for each musical concept presented to him.

Iúri Oliveira also embraces an authorial dimension, having released the tracks, SUÂO featuring Carlos Sanches, CASA, featuring Edu Mundo, HABITAT, in collaboration with Manuel Rocha, and the soundtrack Atemporal for the movie "The Shrovetide Devil" and AURORAS for the film JOÃO AYRES - O PINTOR INDEPENDENTE, with which he won the Best Original Composition Award at the Paris Film Awards, the European Art Festival, and the Red Moon Film Festival. More recently, he released his first album of original music, MANIFESTO, a solo album where he takes a deep dive into wood, skin, and steel, without using loops or electronics. This album traces a vibrant path full of colors and textures.

Iúri Oliveira aims to offer the world a unique rhythmic vocabulary, an intimate voice, and a contribution capable of crossing musical borders and uniting differences, creating bridges in the exploration of modern and traditional percussion, redefining its role in the world through sound.

“My greatest legacy will be to inspire someone to embrace music as someone did for me in the past.” Iúri Oliveira, 2025

©André Júlio Turquesa