About Mundo Niños
Composers/Percussionists Roberto Rodriguez and Susie Ibarra founded Mundo Niños® LLC to bring music to children through performance , workshop and recordings throughout the world.
Mundo Niños is an early childhood program that offers a new approach for children to embrace music by allowing them to participate in the performances and at the same time take directions on how to count and sing, dance and jump. Sometimes simultaneously keeping them active and thinking along the whole performance with the band. The children are encouraged to bring their own instruments or we will provide small percussion for them to play. We believe in Mundo Niños that by introducing kids at an early age to already participate and perform along with the musicians on stage is essential to their learning and social skills.
Biographies of the Artists
Roberto Juan Rodriguez- Composer Percussionist
“Roberto Juan Rodriguez is a bona fide innovator, that rare musician whose creative vision, breathes joy and melancholy with tremendous emotional clarity.” Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Born in East Havana, Cuba, percussionist and composer Roberto Rodriguez draws upon his diverse musical influences, making him one of the most versed and unique artistic voices today. Rodriguez, a Grammy nominee and American Music Award Recipient, received the BBC3 Radio Best World Music Award 2007.
Roberto Rodriguez is a sponsored Paiste, Vader and Evans Drum Artist.
He has performed with notable artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Joe Jackson, John Zorn,Marc Ribot, Celia Cruz,Israel “CACHAO” Lopez, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias, Miami Sound Machine, Paul Simon, Lloyd Cole, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, Lester Bowie and Wadada Leo Smith.
Rodriguez is Co-Founder and Director of Song of the Bird King ( 2008), an organization dedicated to cultural preservation of Indigenous Music and Ecology. He is also Co-Founder of Mundo Niños, a children’s group that performs, records and teaches children melody, rhythm and harmony in multi-languages.
Rodriguez can be heard as a composer, arranger and soloist on the recordings: Maurice el Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez: Descarga Oriental, Piranha Records, Roberto Rodriguez ~ Baila! Gitano Baila! ~El Danzon de Moises (Tzadik Records), Joe Jackon Live – Two Rainy Nights( SONY ) Marc Ribot & los cubanos postizos (Atlantic Records) John Zorn, Taboo & Exile (Tzadik Records) Miami Sound Machine, Into the Light (Epic Records), Electric Kulintang: Dialects (Susie Ibarra & Roberto Rodriguez) Plastic Records and his recent release of compositions titled Timba Talmud, Roberto Rodriguez Tzadik Records 2009.
Susie Ibarra - Composer/Percussionist
Susie Ibarra resides in New York and has performed as a soloist and collaborator in various configurations. Known for her innovative style Ibarra creates cultural dialogue through her music.
She is a Yamaha, Vic Firth and Paiste Artist and has recorded over 40 records as a leader and co-leader.
‘Ibarra is one of the all too few artists who combine prodigious talent with cultural awareness to create art and make the world a better place in the process.” Elliott Simon, All About Jazz Aug 2009.
Recent work include : Drum Sketches, solo percussion composed and performed by Ibarra commissioned by Innova Records and The Brecht Forum, Dialects for Electric Kulintang on Plastic Records, Summer Fantasy and Folklore for Susie Ibarra Quartet commissioned by MoMa Summergarden and Jazz at Lincoln Center, A Translation of Silk with Yusef Komunyakaa for poetry, soprano and violin premiered at the Harlem Stage, Canciones de Cuna / Lullabies by Mundo Niños ,Madre Selva a soundtrack video installation by Juan Sanchez in tribute to Ana Mendieta, Kit: Music for Four Pianists commissioned by Ars Nova Workshop, War Horses music by Electric Kulintang and poetry by Yusef Komunyakaa commissioned by Isamu Noguchi Museum, These Trees That Speak commissioned by Ethos Percussion Quartet, Pintados Dream/ The Painteds Dream a concerto for drums , visual art by Makoto Fujimura and chamber orchestra commissioned by American Composers Orchestra and premiered at Zankel Carnegie Hall.
Cultural and Environmental Preservation
Ibarra is interested musically and culturally in the connection of avant-garde and traditional culture. In 2004 Ibarra began work in cultural and environmental preservation with The Philippine Eagle Foundation, and Indigenous and children’s groups in the Philippines ,US, Asia/Pacific and globally. With Composer/Percussionist Roberto Rodriguez , Ibarra Co-founded Song of the Bird King in 2009 an organization focused on cultural and environmental preservation in Indigenous music and ecology. The organization also features their childrens music program , Mundo Niños, which performs, workshops and teaches children cross-cultural music. She is honored to be a 2010 TED Fellow and 2010 Asia Society Young Leaders Delegate as she continues her documentary work and is creating public service projects in music to support Indigenous communities , peace efforts in conflicted areas and children’s communities in the Asia/Pacific region and US.
She has performed and toured internationally at numerous festivals and concert series, and has performed and collaborated with noted artists such as:
Pauline Oliveros, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Yusef Komunyakaa, Trisha Brown, Tania Leon, Roberto Juan Rodriguez, Makoto Fujimura, Juan Sanchez, Jude Tallichet, Laiwan Chung, Min Xiao-Fen, Derek Bailey, Ikue Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier, William Parker, David S. Ware, Billy Bang, Jeanne Lee, Miya Masaoka, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, Wang Ping, Luis Francia, Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Dresser, Kathleen Supove, Jennifer Choi, Craig Taborn, Bridget Kibbey, Jade Simmons,, Arto Lindsay, Thurston Moore, Prefuse 73, Yo La Tengo among others.
Ibarra has taught and conducted artist residencies at:
Princeton University Columbia University, PASIC: Percussive Arts Society, Brooklyn College, Dartmouth, Hampshire College, The Banff Centre, Sarah Lawrence College, University of Mass, The Walker Art Center , Mills College, Bard College, Swarthmore College, Fundacio Joan Miro, University of Michigan, Oberlin, Indiana University as well as guest residencies and workshops with American Composers Orchestra and ASCAP and performance and improvisation ensemble for The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
She received her music diploma from Mannes College of Music , B.A. from Goddard College, and has studied drumset with visionary Milford Graves, the late Vernel Fournier and Buster Smith and Philippine Kulintang with master kulintang artist Danongan Kalanduyan and Datuan and Kanapia Kalanduyan.