A VANGUARD ARTIST
Luciano Ladeira is a composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist and art educator born in São Paulo on July 31, 1976.
He taught as a History of Art teacher for elementary school, held art laboratories for people with disabilities and, in 1999, he graduated in Artistic Education and Plastic Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts of São Paulo.
As a plastic artist, he won awards for watercolor, conceptual art and artistic installation and developed covers for books and CDs.
He has also worked as a music producer in blues and jazz festivals and shows by artists such as BB King, Steve Vai, John Pizzarelli, Stanley Jordan, Joss Stone, Titãs, Os Paralamas do Sucesso, Gilberto Gil, Toquinho, Hermeto Pascoal, João Bosco, among many others.
In 2010 he moved to Belo Horizonte, where he works as a musician, composer, producer and teacher of various musical modalities for children, teenagers and adults.
1990's
Luciano Ladeira began his musical career in 1994 as drummer for Hoperath, a band he formed with Ale Robortella (guitar and voice), Ricardo Mira (guitar and voice) and Henrique Migliano (bass). Together, they won several awards at independent music festivals and figured among the prominent bands in the São Paulo scene.
In 1994 Hoperath released their first four-song EP entitled “THE PAPPON SESSIONS”. The band, which brought a 'nervous' sound based on powerful guitar riffs and unsettling drums that earned Luciano Ladeira the nickname “Locomotive”, soon began to stand out in colleges and university festivals.
In 1995, the quartet released their first album, “HOPERATH” (also known as “Four Hands”), where they already showed a better worked sound and the clear influence of progressive rock in their compositions, venturing themselves into long instrumental sessions. The song “Batman” was among the fifteen selected for the album “FALANGE ROCK”, an annual compilation produced by Artium Studios.
In the same year, Luciano Ladeira recorded his first individual work, the EP “THAT SOMETHING”, with Henrique Migliano (bass guitar and harmonica) and Alex Buck (piano). Taking over not only the drumsticks, but also the vocals, guitars and production, the artist demonstrated that being a drummer in a band was not enough for him and, from that moment on, he began to trace a parallel and independent musical path.
In 1997, Hoperath released their most emblematic work, the album “INTERFERENCE”, which caught the attention of international critics and placed the group on the Prog Metal scenery of the 90s.
In 1998 the band released “Música das Águas”, their first composition with lyrics in Portuguese. The song was part of the compilation “ELENKO FAST BAND” along with nine other bands and made it clear that Hoperath was sought to breathe new air.
Still in 1998 Luciano Ladeira released his second solo album, “SINAIS”, with poetic compositions that already evidenced a strong spiritual inclination and his interest in subjects such as ufology and ancestral cultures. Such themes would become recurrent and increasingly present in his work. The album featured the participation of Daniel Lemos (marimba), Marcos Fló (acoustic bass) and Igara Paquola (fiddle) and, in 2004, it was considered the 5th best national album of its kind by the website rockprogressivo.com.br.
In 1999 Henrique Migliano left Hoperath. The band started to count with Thiago Martinez on bass guitar and then recorded their latest album, “FANÁTICOS”. This work divided opinions due to its style, which distanced itself from the band's previous compositions while approaching a more engaged MPB (Brazilian Popular Music).
In December of the same year, the band announced the end of their activities and Luciano Ladeira started dedicating himself to his solo career.
2000's
In 2000 Luciano Ladeira released his third work, “BATERIA DE GAIA”. With a special guest appearance by American saxophonist Jay Beckenstein, this daring album with longer tracks established the artist as an promising name for progressive music of the new millennium.
The musician even formed a band, Grupo do Sol, but after a few months of rehearsals, he chose to bring to the stage the essence of the “one-man band” contained in his albums, showing his ability to sing and playing, at the same time, a drum, a guitar and an infinity of percussive objects.
Still in 2000, Ladeira was vocalist and lyricist for Terra Incógnita, a progressive rock band formed by Felipe Crema (keyboards), Marcelo “Ursão” (drums), David Lawant (electric guitar), Gisele Fagali (electric guitar) and Humberto Valdivia (bass). In its meteoric passage through Planet Earth, the group stood out in some festivals at USP and released, in January 2001, the album “TERRA INCÓGNITA”, followed, six months later, by the single “AS CRIANÇAS ESTÃO BRINCANDO”.
In 2002 Luciano Ladeira released “USARU”, a more 'pop' and universal album built under the strong influence of African music. With lyrics about love and diversity and vocal participations by Daniela Smania and Juliana Kallas, “USARU” projected the artist beyond progressive music, also placing him on the scenery of World Music and MPB.
In 2003, a partnership with Ale Robortella (ex-band partner and eternal musical 'brother') resulted in the single “VERDE”, with three beautiful compositions.
In 2004 the composer released “UNVISITED”, a collection of unpublished recordings made between 1996 and 2003.
Between 2004 and 2005, Luciano Ladeira dedicated himself entirely to the stage, taking the show “Musica Viva” to the streets, squares, bookstores, theaters and arenas of some capitals and interior of Brazil.
Between 2005 and 2006, again with Ale Robortella, he developed a project entitled “Tribute to Clube da Esquina and its Afluentes”, which included in the repertoire renowned works by composers such as Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Beto Guedes, Sá, Rodrix and Guarabyra , Boca Livre, 14 Bis and Roupa Nova, among others. The show was very successful in traditional São Paulo houses and ran for 9 months in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila Madalena, attracting an increasingly loyal audience.
In 2006 the composer recorded “MUITO ALÉM DAS SETE CORES”, an acoustic album with jazzy clothing and lyrics about ecology and environmental preservation. This work revealed a mature and erudite artist and represents an important milestone in his trajectory.
In the same period, Luciano Ladeira participated as drummer in three tracks of the album “TRILHA PRÁ CANTAR”, by Ale Robortella, and in one track of the album “GQ6”, by bassist Marcos Fló.
Also in 2006, the musician celebrated ten years of his career with the show “O Rio”. Accompanied by his multi-instrumental kit (which contained parts of drums, percussions, flutes and guitar) and by the bassist Marcos Fló (an open fan of his work), his music gained on stage the dimension of a 'power trio'. From this record was born the album “DUO” (2006). There was also a quintet formation, with Ale Robortella (acoustic guitar), Arnaldo Duarte (drums) and João Nepomuceno (electric guitar). Together, they performed for a full theater at Centro Cultural São Paulo, a show that gave rise to the CD and DVD “QUINTETO” (2007).
In 2009 Luciano Ladeira recorded “ORACULO”, a poetic and intimate work in which the artist dialogues with Brazilian rhythms and explores elements of South American folk music.
2010's
In december 2010 Luciano Ladeira moved to Minas Gerais, one of the most important cradles of Brazilian culture. Establishing himself in Belo Horizonte, the city that gave birth to "Clube da Esquina", the artist had the opportunity to expand his creative range and follow new musical paths.
Between 2011 and 2012 the composer created several soundtracks for television and cinema. These themes are present in important sporting, cultural and socio-environmental events such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Tercentenary of Vila Rica and the recovery of Lagoa de Ibirité, in Minas Gerais, and were brought together, in 2012, in the album “NAS TRILHAS DE MINAS”.
In 2012, with the aim of bringing to the stage all the complexity of his music, Luciano Ladeira created the concept band The Progressive Mob and, between 2013 and 2017, he performed a series of presentations accompanied by young music students in a project entitled “The Progressive Mob Goes to School”, a partnership between the artist and music schools in Belo Horizonte.
In 2016 the musician released “ELASTICA”, a heavier, more aggressive and essentially rock-oriented album. With acidic lyrics and a sarcastic tone, the artist demonstrated, once again, the ease he has to reinvent himself and the enormous plurality of his musical vocabulary.
In the following years Luciano Ladeira wrote a series of songs with greater commercial appeal and lyrics that show a more sentimental artist, releasing in 2017 the single “NOSSO AMOR”, in 2018 the singles “TÃO SUTIL”, “MY RELIGION” and “MOTHER” (three songs dedicated to his mother, who passed away by earlier that year) and in 2019 the single “CROP CIRCLE”, which took the composer back to his experimental roots.
2020's
In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Luciano Ladeira composed the symphonic suite “AMAZONIA”. With a special guest appearance by Gaia Ladeira (the composer's daughter) on vocals, this masterpiece of epic proportions and full of passion rescued the progressive vein of the composer, reaffirming the direction of his work.
In 2021, together with Ale Robortella and Henrique Migliano, he produced a new song by the band Hoperath. “IN THE NAME OF” brings all the vigor and weight of the band's early works and revives a musical partnership that started in 1994.
In 2022 Luciano Ladeira released “A TRIP INTO OUTBODY”, an instrumental and virtuous album focused on Fusion and Jazz Rock in which the musician dedicates himself to long improvisations and gives full freedom to each of the “instrumentalists” present in The Onemanband, his band of a single man who, despite being present in all his work, appears for the first time credited on the cover.
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Without repeating formulas, the music of Luciano Ladeira was considered by critics as “a development laboratory for an avant-garde art, rich in rhythmic juggling and lyrics that invite reflection on our existence” (O Estado de S. Paulo).