José Morao is a professional drummer and an audio producer. He has played numerous styles of music and has been teaching drumming for more than ten years. He started in music at a very young age playing cuatro and cello at Emil Friedman Music School, in Caracas. He was a member of the junior string orchestra and choir, "Arcos y Voces Juveniles de Caracas". Very soon he got strongly interested in the drums, instrument that he starts playing by himself until he met his first drum teacher Luis T. García, who guides him through the language of drummers (the rudiments). At that period José was immersed into a new universe of playing, through Gary Chaffee's polyrhythm concepts, by Gustavo Calle (Berklee College of Music alumnus). During this time he also formed a band with his brother and three other friends from school, it was called "Exodo", but a couple of years later, changed its name to "Propiedad Privada" materializing in that way his very first professional recording experience when the band produced and released the album "La Verdadera Historia" (techno-pop), in 1993.
In 1996 he graduates from university (Universidad Central de Venezuela), Bachelor's degree in Communications (Journalism and Media), getting the skills to make and produce, Radio, TV and multimedia projects. At that time he began to incorporate his original music compositions to his own school projects and for other people's, too. He soon decided to continue his studies in music in New York, at the well-known school Drummers Collective, where he had the great opportunity of learning from excellent drummers like Bobby Sanabria, Duduka DaFonseca, Michael Lauren, Kim Plainfield, Sandy Gennaro, Jim Chapin, among others. While in school, he could participate as a volunteer to assist, as a drum tech, "The Buddy Rich Big Band", which played in the city along with the master drummers: David Garibaldi, Milo Cinelu, Sonny Emory and Billy Cobham.
At his return to his hometown, José gathered his brother, Justo Morao (who just had become a Berklee College of Music alumnus) and his friend Alan Gonzalez (bassist, singer and music producer), and all together started the recording and production of Propiedad Privada's second album, which could not be finished. Eager to make music, José began to play with other bands of different styles.
In 1999 he participated with the Benjamín Brea's Sextet at the first "El Hatillo Jazz Festival", along with the great singer Giselle Brass. Some other live performances include the Roldan Peña's Jazz 3, Kiara (pop), Oscar Fanega (jazz), Rigel Mitxelena (jazz-rock fusion), Simoney Romero (pop), Juan Diego (ballad), Leo Vargas (afro-venezuelan-pop-rock fusion), Angelo Pagliuca's Big Band de las Americas, Porfi Jiménez Jazz Big Band, Fractaler (indie-rock) and Sibelius (neo-classical rock).
As a session drummer, José has worked at Beyond Music Studios, on the albums "Erick", 2012 (Erick Rosales); "Esta rumba es mía", 2011 (Lemay Rodríguez); "Once de octubre", 2009 (Fernando Alarcón); and at Sincopa Studios for a music project played on the restoration of the fountain from "Plaza Venezuela" called "La Fuente", composed by Alexandro Rodríguez, 2008. He also recorded the drums for the album "Música para película" in 2004 for the soundtrack on the short film "Ring", by Marcel Rasquin as well as for the album "Mitxelena 3 Nauthiz", both music projects composed by Rigel Mitxelena. Other recording projects include: "Memorias"(Vicente Freijeiro), "En el Umbral" (Elangel), Simoney Romero and Leo Vargas' music demos.
In 1998, Jose launched his drum workshop called "Jose Morao Escuela de Batería" where he taught many students of all ages the techniques for the snare drum and the drum set. He shared there great experiences until he moved to Canada in 2010.
In parallel with his music career, Jose worked as a co-editor of the books: "El Abogado Litigante Frente al Proceso Civil (Guía Práctica: Juicio Ordinario y Breve)", 1999; "El Nuevo Proceso Penal y Los Derechos del Ciudadano"; 2000; y "El Proceso Laboral Venezolano y los Derechos del Trabajador", 2008; written by Justo Morao Rosas and published by JM Bros.
In 2012, José finishes his studies at the school of sound, Musitechnic, in Montreal, where he catches up with mixing concepts and acquires new skills on sound designing, audio editing and mastering with the latest technology on the market. Now he's willing to work in audio post production as well as continue playing with bands and making music. He has joined the band of Krÿstan (indie-rock) and The Sergio Mucino's Trio Project (funk-rock).
In 2012, José finishes his studies at the school of sound, Musitechnic, in Montreal, where he catches up with mixing concepts and acquires new skills on sound designing, audio editing and mastering with the latest technology on the market. Now he's willing to work in audio post production as well as continue playing with bands and making music. He has joined the band of Krÿstan (indie-rock) and The Sergio Mucino's Trio Project (funk-rock).
