The Ensemble Banza borrows its name from the mbanza, an early central African musical instrument widely played in the Americas throughout the colonial period. Formed in 2003, and based in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, the ensemble performs early Luso-Brazilian music on historic and traditional instruments of Europe, western and central Africa, and Brazil.

The ensemble's main commitment is bringing back to life the music of recently unveiled or previously unstudied musical sources of Portugal and Brazil, such as Portuguese Baroque guitar tablatures, early-19th-century Brazilian salterio music, and the Portuguese and Afro-Brazilian Modinhas and Lunduns, always trying to balance a strong research content with a lively approach drawn from Brazilian oral tradition.

Since 2003, the ensemble has performed in several Brazilian states, with Ademir Mauricio (voice), Ana Paula Peters (recorder and traverse), Atli Ellendersen (violin), Orlando Fraga (early and traditional guitars), Paulo Demarchi (early and traditional percussion, traditional guitars), Roger Burmester (theorbo and bandurra), and Rogerio Budasz (early guitars and direction).

Discography