Biribá Union

About the Ensemble

About the Artists

Mike Block is a Grammy Award-winning cello player, singer and composer passionate about cross-cultural collaboration through music, hailed as “one of the bravest, most intriguing musicians on the American fusion scene.” (Gramophone). Acclaimed by the New York Times for his “vital rich-hued solo playing”, and by Salt Lake City Desert News as “a true artist… a sight to behold”, Mike tours in a variety of collaborative projects, and was among the first wave of cellists to adopt a strap to stand while performing, using his patented design, The Block Strap. He is also the founding Director of Play For the Vote, Mike Block String Camp, and Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop.

Christylez Bacon (pronounced: chris-styles) is a Grammy Nominated Progressive Hip-Hop artist and multi-instrumentalist from Southeast, Washington, DC. As a performer, Christylez multi-tasks between various instruments such as the West African djembe drum, acoustic guitar, and the human beat-box (oral percussion), all while continuing the oral tradition of storytelling through his lyrics. With a mission towards cultural acceptance and unification through music, Christylez is constantly pushing the envelope – from performances at the National Cathedral, to becoming the first Hip-Hop artist to be featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, composing and performing with the National Symphony Orchestra and Princeton Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions, collaborating with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and creating an intentional culture exchange project and subsequent documentary between Washington, DC and Brasilía, Brazil.

Patricia Ligia is an electric bass player and composer from Montevideo, Uruguay. In addition to playing regularly in pop superstar Karol G’s touring band, with whom she has performed on Saturday Night Live, NPR’s Tiny Desk, and stadium shows around the world, Patricia is co-founder of the band Mestizas – a musical group specialized in the fusion of flamenco, jazz, and various Latin American and Caribbean folklore genres, where she plays bass, sings, and arranges the music. Patricia leads Group ‘O’, with whom she has performed in the Boston and Miami area, playing original music and her own arrangements of Brazilian and Latin music. She constantly collaborates with other artists as a bassist and as an arranger and has short-term plans to record her own 100% original music album. She graduated from Berklee College of Music with a major in Jazz Composition.