About Me
was born in Peru in 1977 and took his first guitar lessons by his brother at the age of nine. Three years later, he formed his first folk band called Marka. Later on, he also started taking piano lessons. At the age of fifteen, he became to perform with Salsa bands as a pianist.
But at the age of eighteen, he decided to go deep into the drums and the percussion.
He took his first lessons with the peruvian drummer Hugo Alcazar and continued studying at the Westfälische Schule für Musik in Germany. He took masterclasses with Luis Conte, Roberto VizcaÃno, Ernesto Simpson, Julio Barreto, Mark Walker, El Negro Hernández and Alex Acuña.
In Peru he worked with leading bands as Manú, Tradición Peruana, Duo Wayra, and with leading musicians as Juri Juarez and Pepe Flores.
In 1997 he founded his own Salsa band called Onda Latina, with whom he was performing in Germany, Holland, and France for about seven years. At the same time, he was working with famous Salsa singers like Luisito Rosario, Antonio Cartagena and Melcochita. He also was member of La Herencia, the band of the excellent trombonist Jorge Ardiles Ruiz, with whom recorded the album, 'Ardiles & Su Herencia'.
Living in Ireland in 2004, he met Dunne & Hernández Duo, with whom he performed and recorded the album, 'Pa'l Que Se Va' as a special guest. This duet evolved into Lunfardia, a quinttet with Ioana Petcu-Colan on Violin and Malachy Robinson on Double Bass. With Lunfardia he toured around Ireland for the last three years and in 2007 recorded the album, 'Picada Pa' Cinco'.
Since September 2005, he is completing a Bachelor of Music, specializing in drumming and percussion at the CODARTS Conservatorium in Rotterdam, Holland. In addition, he plays with many bands like Angela Maria & Band, Sonido Profundo, Monica Fadul's Project and Gabriela Kozyra.
'Peruvian percussionist Frank Vidal engaged in a fine-boned act of approach-avoidance to bolster and sway the rhythms in all right places'.
IRISH TIMES, MARCH 2006
