Eguie Castrillo

Associate Professor
Affiliated Departments
Percussion
Faculty Bio E-Mail
ecastrillo@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-8514

For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations

Career Highlights
  • Performances with Tito Puente, Steve Winwood, Michael Brecker, Ruben Blades, United Nation Orchestra, Paquito D'Rivera, Michel Camilo, KC and the Sunshine Band, Dave Valentin, and Giovanni Hidalgo
  • Tours with the Arturo Sandoval Band
  • Recordings include Hot House with Arturo Sandoval, The Latin Train with Arturo Sandoval, soundtrack for The Perez Family for MGM, Get Down Live! with KC and the Sunshine Band, and A GRP Celebration of the Songs of the Beatles
In Their Own Words

"My main thing as an instructor of Latin percussion at Berklee is to give the students here not only the knowledge of the rhythm from the Caribbean, but also give them my experience as a touring musician. I have played with a lot of the big guys in Latin music, and they sat with me and told me stories. I want to pass that on to my students at Berklee."

"I want them to learn how to deal with this world of music, so that when they get out of my class, they don't just know how to play the rhythms. They also have an understanding of the roots of the music. If you want to really know the language of any instrument or any music, you have to go to the roots. I always say, I can teach you A-B-C-D-E-F-G until Z, but if I don't teach you how to put those letters together, to make words and make sense, you don't know what to do with them. Students have to learn—go back to the roots—no matter what instrument they play."

"The quality of the teachers here is unreal. Every teacher in the Percussion Department is committed to excellence—to really, really teaching the students. Whoever wants to study percussion around the world has to come to this school. Everybody: drummers, hand percussion, the Latin thing, Brazilian, African, Middle Eastern. What you are going to find here is the best of the best. It's as simple as that."

Additional Related Links
VIDEO: Berklee Batá Ensemble, Afro-Cuban Percussion Faculty & Students

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