Lara Klaus

Born in Recife, Brazil, Lara Klaus is a multi-instrumentalist (percussionist, drummer and guitarist), singer, composer and educator dedicated to the study and teaching of percussion instruments from the Northeast of Brazil. Currently living in Montréal, Lara is part of the international organization Jeunes Musiciens du Monde (MJM), where she teaches percussion to children and adolescents at risk. She also offers percussion and music workshops internationally, and was a recipient of a 2020 OneBeat Accelerator Grant to give online classes for the Brazilian organization NGO Integrarte, for which she had previously served as musical director of the percussion group Maracaarte.

She has played with renowned Brazilian artists like Elba Ramalho and Moraes Moreira. Also, Lara recorded with bassist Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic) for the soundtrack of the 2014 movie Prometo Um Dia Deixar Essa Cidade (I Swear I’ll Leave This Town). In 2018, Lara co-produced (with Tomaz Alves), directed and released her first album, Força do Gesto. The single Poeira Estelar followed in 2021, which featured a collaboration with Brazilian singer Flaira Ferro. Last year, Lara and guitarist André Galamba dropped the single Rodavida.

Lara is probably best known as a founding member of LADAMA, a unique ensemble formed by four women from different parts of the Americas, which headlined at TD Sunfest a few years ago. Together, they released two albums: LADAMA (2017) – reaching #1 on Amazon’s and iTunes’ Latin Charts – and Oye Mujer (2020).