Beto González

Beto González is a multi-instrumentalist, photographer, ethnomusicologist, educator, and a perpetual student of life. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. From September 2007 to August 2008, Beto conducted research in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil funded by a Fulbright-Hays grant. In addition to his studies at UCLA, he also serves as editor of the peer-reviewed journal Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology. Complementing his training in ethnomusicology, Beto also received a B.A. and M.A. in Latin American Studies from UCLA. In 2003 Beto founded the UCLA Music of Brazil Ensemble (batUCLAda), which he then directed for four years. Before academia, Beto worked for many years as an aircraft welder, a long-haul truck driver, and a freelance photographer. In his current project, Beto is the artistic director of Samba Society, a collective of musicians from the Brazilian community of So Cal dedicated to the music of his parents’ native Brazil. This project was conceived as a means to present “roots” samba in a traditional format and in a way that does not resort to stereotypes that perpetuate exoticist, preconceived notions of Brazilian music and culture.