João Tostes

João Tostes (born July 9, 1983, in Barbacena (MG), Brazil) is a Brazilian ukulele virtuoso and composer considered one of the pioneers of the ukulele in Brazil. He has an instrumental career while teaching on his ukulele project called Toca Ukulele. His works and dedication for the ukulele and music has been recognized by Brazilian MPB Masters, such as Mozart Mello and Nelson Faria.
== Career ==
He started the Toca Ukulele Project in 2015 with the aim of teaching and spreading the instrument to Portuguese speaking countries. Since then, he has been publishing original Brazilian instrumental music and becoming recognized as one of the greatest ukulele players in the world.
Early 2017, João Tostes was the first Brazilian ukulele player to be shown on a national television channel - Canal Futura, playing the ukulele in a instrumental way. In the same year, he released his first ukulele single, called "Maria Madalena" with his first official music video and started to study with Canadian Ukulele Master James Hill. Tostes also become the first ukulele player to play outside Brazil at international ukulele festivals. 
In June of 2018 he released his first ukulele album of original songs, called "naturæ", which debuted in Brazilian music as the first instrumental ukulele album. He also published the album songbook with tabs and standard notation which is available worldwide. He took a tour playing in countries such as Canada, South Korea and Italy.
In 2020 he released the album "Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere", a compilation of 20 live songs, cover and originals, played between 2016 and 2019 in 4 countries and 8 cities.
== Performances ==
Since 2017, João Tostes has been playing the ukulele in several countries around the world. 
Tostes has played in such venues as Poděbrady and Únetice in Czech Republic during the 5th Czech Ukulele Festival, The Astra Theater in Italy (2018), Sindorim Opera House and Guro Art Valley Arts Theater in South Korea (2018), many Brazilian cities and in all editions of the Brazilian Ukulele Festival.
== Discography ==
=== Albums ===
* naturæ (2018)
* Live in Italy (2019)
* Live Ukulele Here, There & Everywhere (2020)
=== Singles ===
* Maria Madalena (2017)
== Publications ==
* Tostes, João. Dicionário de acordes essenciais para ukulele, 2020. (ukulele chords dictionary)
* Tostes, João. Ukulele transcriptions, 2018. (songbook transcriptions with ukulele tablature and standard notation)
* Tostes, João. Transcrições para ukulele, 2018. (songbook transcriptions with ukulele tablature and standard notation)
== Workshops ==
In national workshops, João usually presents great repertoire and teaches music and musical theory, strumming, practice and so on. 
== Instruments and strings ==
João Tostes is known for playing Ohana Ukuleles, especially a tenor model TK-350G modified by himself, using a LR Baggs 5.0 pickup, with Aquila Strings, always Sugar or Lava models. Tostes is endorsed by both brands.
==In the media==
<youtube width="300" height="300">gWDjCe77LUE</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">RhbobPLH3j8</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">oWebRxj-u_c</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">3mJoEuOs0m4</youtube>
==In the media==
== References ==
== External links ==
* João Tostes on Youtube
* João Tostes on Spotify
* João Tostes on Apple iTunes
* João Tostes at AllMusic
* Toca Ukulele official website
* João Tostes on jiosaavan
* João Tostes on twitter
* João Tostes on facebook
* João Tostes on instagram
Category:1983 births
Category:Living people
Category:Brazilian musicians
Category:Ukulele players
Category:Brazilian composers
Category:Brazilian people