João Tostes – Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere

Release info/credits
Live Brazilian instrumental ukulele worldwide in a 4-year history

It’s 4 countries, 4 years, 8 cities and 20 recordings in the double album “Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere”, by João Tostes. The musician, who changed the trends and the way the ukulele is played and taught in Brazil, collects great moments and instrumental music concerts with the ukulele, plus workshops in Portuguese and English wherever he goes. He runs Toca Ukulele, one of the greatest projects concerning the instrument in Latin America, with a well-funded national and international artistic career. He is considered one of the pioneers of the ukulele in Brazil and is recognized by Brazilian Music Masters, such as Mozart Mello and Nelson Faria.

This is already the 3rd album by Tostes. In 2018, he released his first album “naturæ”, which debuted in Brazilian music as the first instrumental ukulele album. In 2019 it was time for “Live in Italy”, a live album recorded in the city of Vicenza (Astra Theater) in Italy (2018).

Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere is a compilation of cover and original songs performed live, between 2016 and 2019. The songs go from Beatles, with Yesterday, through Leonard Cohen with Hallelujah, to Waldir Azevedo, with Brasileirinho. The recordings were made in Brazil, Canada, Italy and South Korea. The album cover was made by his 10-year-old son João Victor Tostes, who also makes videos since he was 8 years old for the series “Ukulele Para Crianças – #ukekids” (Ukulele for Children, but it’s just in Portuguese), on Toca Ukulele channel on YouTube.

Tostes started Toca Ukulele activities in 2015, and in 2016 he was already recording a special ukulele instrumental for UFOP TV – Concertos Didáticos (Didatic Concerts), which later was broadcast nationally by Canal Futura (Futura Channel). That made the musician to be the first ukulele player to be nationally on TV in Brazil.

Among so many achievements, Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere is also a striking point in celebration of the 100k subscribers on Toca Ukulele, the artist’s oficial Youtube channel. On the tracks, beyond various recordings as a solo ukulele, the album has also special guests appearances on Tostes’ live shows, including the musicians Rio Saito – the ukulele youth prodigy (Japan), Vinícius Vivas (Rio de Janeiro), Jonas Loi (São Paulo), and the artists Diogo Fernandes (bass) e Felipe Moreira (piano), from Minas Gerais State in Brazil, who have already accompanied the musician in studio records and shows worldwide.

João Tostes – Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere
World Premiere: March 16, 2020
Available on all music streaming platforms, including iTunes, Spotify, Deezer and Youtube
Official website: joaotostes.com
Youtube: youtube.com/tocaukulele

Song/album purchase link
https://joaotostes.hearnow.com/

Bio
João Tostes is a Brazilian musician, ukulele player, composer, arranger and musical
educator, in charge of the Toca Ukulele Project, with a well-funded national and
international artistic career. He is considered one of the pioneers of the ukulele in Brazil
and is recognized by Brazilian Music Masters, such as Mozart Mello and Nelson
Faria. Tostes is playing the Brazilian ukulele all over the world in countries like Canada,
Czech Republic, Italy and South Korea. He is a Level 1 Certified Ukulele Teacher by James
Hill (JHUI), Canada.

He started in the acoustic guitar in 1999. As the time went by, he started to
study also the electric guitar and to play in local bands. He first met the ukulele in 2010,
and published a video on Youtube to teach the ukulele owner how to play a song.
People started to ask for new ukulele stuff and tutorials, which encouraged him to
create a project. It was postponed several times.

The project only began effectively five years later, in October of 2015. This is a
project with several purposes in which interactivity with the public is one of the great
differentials.

Close to finish the Telecommunications Engineering course, he left the university
after being approved for the acoustic guitar course at Bituca – Universidade de Música
Popular (Brazil). During the period in Bituca, he actively participated in local bands,
using the ukulele in much of the repertoire (covers and originals).

In 2016 he was invited by italian Aquila Corde Armoniche, the largest strings
factory for exotic instruments in the world, to be part of their endorsed artists team, a
fact that also occurred with the american company Ohana Ukuleles.

In 2017, João Tostes was the first Brazilian ukulele player to be shown on a
national television channel, playing the instrumental ukulele, by Canal Futura. This same
year, he released his first single, “Maria Madalena”, also with a music video, recorded in
Santa Rita do Ibitipoca, Bom Jesus do Vermelho and Parreiras, in Minas Gerais state.
Also, started his studies in JHUI with the Canadian master James Hill, the only course in
the world that prepare ukulele teachers. Another fact unheard of the Brazilian ukers,
participates in the 5th Czech Ukulele Festival, playing in the cities of Poděbrady and
Únětice, also doing Brazilian music workshop.

At the end of 2017, he created the Toca Ukulele Global, the English version of
the Brazilian project. He also leaves a parallel career as an Information Technology
entrepreneur to fully dedicate himself to music and ukulele.

In 2018, he released his first album, naturæ, which debuted in Brazilian music as
the first instrumental ukulele album. The album contains songs played only in the
ukulele, and partnerships with Diogo Fernandes (bass) and Felipe Moreira (piano). He
also published the album songbook with tabs and sheet music which is available
worldwide.

Tostes also provides workshops and events inside and outside the country, in
Portuguese and English, and is responsible for the Brazilian Ukulele Festival, an annual
event since 2017.

In 2019, João Tostes released “Rain, Ukulele and Relaxing at Dongmak Beach”
single, featuring also an official music video, in honor of the people of South Korea and
Master Changsoo Kim. In the same year, he released “Live in Italy”, a live album
recorded in the city of Vicenza (Astra Theater) in Italy (2018).

In 2020 it’s time to “Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere” album, a
compilation of cover and original songs performed live, between 2016 and 2019 – 4
years, 4 countries, 8 cities and 20 live recordings. The songs go from Beatles, with
Yesterday, through Leonard Cohen with Hallelujah, to Waldir Azevedo, with
Brasileirinho. The recordings were made in Brazil, Canada, Italy and South Korea. The
album cover was designed by his 10-year-old son João Victor Tostes. The album is also a
striking point in celebration of the 100k subscribers on Toca Ukulele, the artist’s official
Youtube channel.

In national workshops, João presents a vast repertoire and teaches music, beats,
musical theory, joint practice, among others. In international workshops, he usually
takes Brazilian music to the public, especially typical rhythms of the country, such as
maxixe, choro and bossa nova.