Rafael Mendes Barata, was born in September 26th, 1980, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started playing drums at the age of five. Throughout his childhood he was dedicated to Brazilian Popular Music, specially the Bossa Nova, whose influence came from his family members Roberto Mendes, his father and musician, and his brother and pianist Beto. Self-taught on drums, he recorded his first CD at the age of 14. He has won two International Brazilian Drums Festivals: 1st Batuka – At the age of 15, and the Batuka Masters 2000 at the age of 20.
He has recorded with several artists, amongst them Rosa Passos, Zizi Possi, Edu Lobo, Leny Andrade, Flávio Venturini, Leila Pinheiro, Ivan Lins, Angela Ro Ro, Paula Morelenbaum, Maúcha and Muiza Adnet, Mônica Salmaso, Joyce, Alcione, Luís Melodia, Lisa Ono and Amanda Brecker. Rafael has perfromed with famous musicians such as Dario Galante, Idriss Boudrioua, Osmar Milito, Durval Ferreira, João Donato, Mario Adnet, Moacir Santos, Hélio Celso, JT Meirelles, Spok Frevo, Hamilton de Hollanda, Maurício Einhorn, Jaques Morelenbaum, Lula Galvão, Marcos Valle, Marcos Amorim, Daniel Garcia, Claudio Roditi, Guilherme Dias Gomes, Turi Collura, Raul de Souza, Mika Mori, Oscar Castro Neves and Eliane Elias.
Rafael has also performed with great singers like Zezé Motta, Emilio Santiago, Zé Renato, Roberta Sá, Paula Santoro, Maúcha Adnet, Ney Matogrosso, the Singer/drummer Wilson das Neves, Leny Andrade and Alma Thomas.
In Rio’s jazz headquarter, Mistura Fina, he played many years with the piano legend Osmar Milito. In this venue, he had the opportunity to play with several artists like Russell Ferrante, Mike Shapiro, John Pizzarelli, Jane Monheit, Karrin Allison, Kevin Lethau and many others.
He played in many Brazilian jazz festivals with Hermeto Pascoal, Jovino Santos Neto, Phillipe Baden Powell and “JT Meirelles e os Copa 5”, Jean Pierre Zanella (Montreal), Ray Moore (New Orleans), Idriss Boudrioua (France), Dario Galante (Italy), Jeff Gardner (USA), Nosso Trio (Nelson Faria, Ney Conceição and Kiko Freitas), Paulo Moura, among others.Rafael is currently playing with the greatest Bossa Nova singer and composer, Edu Lobo, and the pop singer Angela Ro Ro. In Brazil’s jazz scene, he plays with Idriss Boudrioua Base & Brass septet. Since 2006, Rafael is a teacher of CIVEBRA (Brasília International Summer Music Course).
Around the world, he has played in many Jazz festivals in South and North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, in shows with: Jeff Gardner Trio, Root System L.A. Group, the NY singer Elin, “Nosso Trio”, Mika Mori, and “Cello Samba Trio” (Jaques Morelenbaum, Lula Galvão and Rafael).
Lately he has been touring around the world with Eliane Elias Quartet (Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Rafael and Rubens De La Corte). In New York for some time, he is working in recordings with Paul Nowinski, Jon Davis and John Hart.
