When Ben Lamar first started to study music at the age of sixteen on Chicago’s Southside, he probably had no idea that his work would be on the cutting edge in both the local and global music scenes. Juba Dance, Lamar's group, put out the album Orange (released in 2007 by the Chicago label Audio 8 Recordings) was his first major work and it packaged his skills as writer, composer and recording engineer. As if the people at Audio 8 weren’t impressed enough he soon began to absorb the complex rhythms of Latin music, which eventually landed him performances with Chicago Samba, Angle Melendez, Willie Gomez con Cache Orchestra and Jesus Enrique y Su Orquestra. As his influence in Latin music grew he still managed to find time to collaborate with All Natural artists Kenny Keys and Eulorhythmics; creating a diverse array of musical influences to draw from.
As Lamar continued to let his work grow, he naturally found himself in Brazil producing for the critically acclaimed Brazilian hip-hop group Fillial. He’s currently writing the music for a short film based on Chet Baker, as well as collaborating with Polyphonic the Verbose on the album Apple.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.myspace.com/jubadance
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