Pedro Santos

Pedro Mello dos Santos, known as Pedro Sorongo, was born in 1919 in São Cristóvão, Rio. After returning from the FEB campaign in Italy, he decided to make his living from music and became a doorman at Rádio Tupi, where he presented his rhythms and compositions to figures in the music world. He played with Jacob do Bandolim, Altamiro Carrilho and the Orquestra Tabajara, and also accompanied Baden Powell, Elis Regina, Milton Nascimento and Clara Nunes. He invented the berimboca, or mouth berimbau, and the tamba, a bamboo percussion kit created with Hélcio Milito that gave the Tamba Trio its name. Krishnanda, released by CBS in 1968, was his only album of original work and remained obscure until the 2000s, when bootleg copies began to circulate. He died in 1993.