Leon Patel is at the helm of Global Grooves, and for the last 20 years he has focused on sharing his passion and knowledge of percussion and song from around the world – Brazilian, South Asian, West African, Cuban, and Western musical styles to name a few, eventually finding his main passion and focus in Carnival.
As well as laying claim to the loudest timba slap in the West, Leon regularly holds masterclasses and short courses to share his decades of study and performance techniques with students all over the world. He has studied with various international percussion ensembles in Brazil, West Africa and India and toured with Batucada Sound Machine in 2011.
As an arts leader, he has helped to develop many of the Northwest’s leading carnival arts organisations, guiding them to produce high quality participatory arts and touring productions. Leon’s main focus and passion over the last ten years has been the development of Global Grooves as CEO.
More recently he has taken the lead on the development of The Vale, home to Global Grooves and a new Northwest Centre for Carnival Arts that opened in Mossley, Greater Manchester September 2021.
Leon has also contributed to the development the arts module within the British Council’s ‘Active Citizens’ programme as well as being a Clore Artists fellow 2014.