Karina Vazquez Colis, drummer, percussionist and vocalist, began performing professionally in her native Mexico at an early age. Born in San Luis Potosi in 1976 into a family of musicians, hearing and playing music quickly became second nature to her. In the past decade, she has performed throughout the United States (Boston, NY, Puerto Rico) Spain, Portugal, and her native country, Mexico.Karina’s dream of greater musical education and opportunity did not come immediately. A natural and versatile talent, by her early twenties, she had already performed throughout Mexico at numerous festivals including “Festival de Musica Antigua y Baroca,†one of the most prestigious festivals in the country.
At the age of 21, the opportunity arose for Karina to study at "Flamingo’s Academy of Music" in Puerto Rico. While in Puerto Rico, she received her first scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music as a full-time student.During her studies she started to perform at the most prestigious jazz clubs in Boston such as The Regatta Bar, Scullers jazz , Wally's club, Ryles club, BPC (Berklee Performance Center), Boston Center for the Arts and participated in main venues like The Beantown jazz Festival, New Haven jazz festival, Women in Latin Jazz and the Tito Puente Latin series. After graduated, summa cum laude in Professional Music Diploma, Karina started to gain experience with various bands and Berklee faculty members such as Greg Hopkins, John Lockwood ,Alain Mallet ,Oscar Stagnaro, Ernesto Diaz, Rebeca Cline, among others.
Karina is currently a member of the band "Mango Blue," an Afro-Latin jazz group lead by bass player/vocalist/composer Alex Alvear. Other bands include singer/composer Mili Bermejo , Achuira, and Gregorio Uribe y su Orquesta.
In addition, she has facilitated workshops spreading Latin-American music and culture for organizations such as the Berklee Summer Program and the Boston K-12 school system.
How I made my profile:
I used MyWackoSpace.com 's amazing MySpace Editor .
