Bocas Breeze was formed in 2021 when live music made a comeback. The act features traditional Caribbean music along with island versions of well-known popular music, and is available for solo instrumental steelpan, appropriate for lower volume supporting sounds, or as a duo with percussion for more rhythmic occasions.
Charlie Short has played steelpans for 30+ years and performed with Despers USA Steel Orchestra in the Brooklyn West Indian Day Panorama competition, Y2K. A native of Kenosha, Charlie is an independently contracted performer and educator in the greater Milwaukee area as a percussion specialist for 10 years at Alverno College and currently with Milwaukee Public Schools, as well as maintaining a private lesson studio, The Percussion Studio, MKE. Listeners of local radio may be familiar with his work as composer, arranger, studio musician, and producer under the band name Charlie Vibes along with rising star Amanda Huff creating original Milwaukee Music .
Bony Benavides is a percussionist from Bogota, Colombia. She has been playing Latin percussion since she was 14 years old. In addition to Bocas Breeze, she performs extensively in Milwaukee with De la Buena, Samba da Vida, and Onda Tropical. As an educator, she is a percussion specialist for Milwaukee Public Schools, Bembe Drum and Dance, and Concordia University.