Biography
Dana Maman was born in Tel Aviv Israel, to immigrant parent of Moroccan and Persian decent. She started her involvement with music at the age of six with the violin, learning classical music and musicianship in the Catherin Luis Music Conservatory in Tel Aviv. Maman learned the violin for 13 years, traveling to England, Germany, and the Netherlands and participating in various youth orchestras and musical groups. At the same time of her formal violin training, Maman played percussion as well. During her late high-school years she began to learn more about Afro Brazilian beats due to her involvement with capoeira. At 2001 she moved to Los Angeles and became part of Capoeira Batuque, furthering her studies of capoeira and percussion. Three years later she became a part of Amen Santo’s Dance group Bale Folclorico do Brazil, with whom she have been touring and performed across California. In the past three years Maman has been playing West-African drumming and performing in this genre with various groups as well. She is still a member of the Bale Folclorico Do Brazil participating in school show and introducing Brazilian culture in various locations around California. She teaches a capoeira music class and is part of the children program in the Brazil Brazil Cultural Center. Recently Maman has completed conducting research in Salvador-Bahia regarding women in the music of Candomblé. The research explored women’s issues in the religion and music while getting an understanding of the effects of this topic to women in capoeira. Currently Maman is releasing her first capoeira music CD.