Tony Contreras - Percussion & Vocals

I have always been inspired by music, the universal language of the world. I came to the US in 1978 from El Salvador, Central America where Cumbia, Boleros, Salsa as well as Mariachi music is very popular.  Raised in the Mission in San Francisco attending high school where I joined dance and arts performance classes developing a passion for music and dance performing at many events meeting local celebrities and political figures. 

I’m self taught conga player and backup singer.  My journey in percussion started in 2008 which led me to join Grupo Conciencia, a Latin Folk Traditional music for several years.  I joined Spill The Wine an R&B band for several years, also sitting in with Cacao Rock Band playing congas as a back up singer and also had a few songs as a lead singer.  We played around the SF Bay Area at many different venues and is how I met Clark Seal.  

Clark called me to join his start up music project which now developed into Karamba, a Contemporary Latin Fusion Brazilian rhythms band. With this band, every day is a new day. I keep an open mind as I love music and when there is an opportunity, I take it without hesitation and that is the passion I have for music.