Recycled Sounds
This performance and workshop program, by renowned percussionist Dendê Macêdo, uses instruments he made from found materials to deliver a message about protecting our environment through reuse and recycling.
Pennsylvania Curriculum Standards
(A=Assembly; W=Workshop; R=Residency)
3.4.B. Technology and Engineering: Technology and Society A, W, R
4.5 Humans and the Environment A, W, R
9.1 Production, Performance and Exhibition of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts A, W, R
15.4 Learning Through Experience A, W, R
25.3 Pro-Social Relationships with Adults W, R
25.4 Pro-Social Relationships with Peers W, R
Art Form(s): Music
Genre: Latin/Brazilian, Multicultural
Instrument(s): Percussion
Video Residency Available
Assembly, Workshop, and Residency Offerings
Recycled Sounds Assembly
This interactive performance program, by renowned percussionist Dendê Macêdo, demonstrates instruments he made from found materials to deliver a message about protecting our environment through reuse and recycling. Using a loop pedal, Dendê presents each of the instruments by layering a brief recording of each. The end result is a vibrant percussive piece that inspires student to look differently at what they would normally throw away.
Best for: PreK-12 • Special Needs • After-School/Community
Recycled Sounds Workshop
In this interactive workshop, renowned percussionist, Dende Macedo, leads students to make music with everyday objects. Using items the students bring in from their recycling at home (soda cans, bottles, toilet paper rolls), Dende teaches the students about recycling, rhythm, tone, and the art of making instruments. After a fun-filled session of making and decorating their own unique instruments, the students learn to play as they create their own Recycled Sound ensemble.
Best for: PreK-12 • Special Needs • After-School/Community
Recycled Sounds Residency
In this interactive residency program, Dendê provides performances and workshops making music with everyday objects. The first session consists of a performance where he demonstrates instruments he made from found materials to deliver a message about protecting our environment through reuse and recycling. Workshop sessions with consist of students using items that they bring in from their recycling at home (soda cans, bottles, toilet paper rolls). Over the course of the residency, Dendê will teach the students about recycling, rhythm, tone, and the art of making instruments. After a series of fun-filled sessions, making and decorating their own unique instruments and learning to play, they create their own Recycled Sound ensemble that will perform at a culminating assembly program.
Best for: PreK-12 • Special Needs • After-School/Community
Featuring: Dendê Macêdo
Dendê Macêdo is a percussionist, singer, composer, bandleader, teacher, and multi instrumentalist. He’s been a professional musician since the age of 14, when he appeared in the frontline of Timbalada, Carlinhos Brown’s superstar percussion ensemble. Since 2001, he’s been developing his solo career, splitting his time between the US and Bahia and working with his folkloric group Ologundê and his flagship band Dendê & Band.
Dendê & Band have recently performed at venues such as the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles; the KW Latinfest in Ontario, Canada; the Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia; Summerdance in Chicago and the Chile Pepper Fiesta at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
His folkloric group Ologundê has performed at major performing arts centers and festivals throughout the US and toured Greece as part of the Cultural Olympiad, appearing at the Kalamata Dance Festival and at the Athens Festival at the Acropolis.
He has provided workshops, clinics and residency programs throughout the US and Brazil at such esteemed institutions as Lincoln Center, the Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory among many others. Dendê currently teaches regularly in the Philadelphia area.
Joined Musicopia: 2016

