JER

Jerusa Leão

Artist · Musician · Creative Technologist
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CANADA/BRAZIL
Jerusa Leão
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There is music that does not arrive. It returns.

It's Not a Joke is her debut album — and first albums always cost something. This one cost emptiness. The kind that comes after you've given everything and have to decide whether to keep going anyway. She kept going.

The record opens with "Angu," a Portuguese shaped not by books but by living: the hot feira, the streets of Cidade Baixa, dendê thick in the air, the atabaques drying outside. From there the album moves through grief, altered states, displacement, and irony, closing with a saxophone solo that leaves everything unresolved. Featuring Chibatinha of ÀTTØØXXÁ and mixed by Grammy-winning engineers Justin Gray and Mark Lawson of Arcade Fire, the record moves between Bahia and Toronto, between terreiro and synthesizer.

JER has performed at Calgary Folk Festival, TD Toronto Jazz Festival, and Massey Hall, where she opened for Luedji Luna. Through JER Creative Lab, she develops projects at the intersection of music, visual media, and emerging technology, including MIYL.AI and Invisible Friends.

Live

Massey Hall / TD Music Hall

Toronto — 2024 — Opening for Luedji Luna

Opening set for Luedji Luna.

TD Toronto Jazz Festival · Calgary Folk Festival · Mémoire & Racines · Mundial Montréal

2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 — Featured Artist

Featured across multiple editions of Canadian and international festival circuits.

Meridian House — Women in Culture

Ontario, Canada — Cultural Diplomacy

Performance as part of Women in Culture, a cultural diplomacy initiative in Toronto.

LulaWorld · DO WEST Festival

Toronto — 2025 · 2026

Recurring live performance on the Toronto circuit.
Do West Fest — VJ and visual content production for Afrique Like Me Collective (2025).

FUNK ME HARD · Summer 2026

Toronto — Immersive Baile Funk Experience

Immersive baile funk party combining live DJ sets and visual systems.
Produced by JER Creative Lab and partners.

Selected
Discography

It's Not a Joke [JER]

April — 2026

Debut album featuring musicians from Nação Zumbi and Attoxxá, mixed by Grammy-winning engineers Justin Gray and Mark Lawson.

9 Rosas [Maria and The Band]

Album — August 2026

Upcoming album release with Maria and The Band.

Holy

Visual Single — 2026

Visual single from JER's current release cycle.

Broken Heart

Single & Video — 2022

Standalone single and video release.

Artistic
Research

JER Creative Lab

Ongoing

Platform for curation, live performance and creative technology projects connecting music, visual media and community practice.

Mississippi Residencies [USA]

Both Sides of the River / Saravah! — 2023–2024

Residencies tracing transatlantic connections between Brazilian rhythms and American Black musical lineages.

Brúxula [UK/BR]

Collaboration — 12th Isle

Integrating modular synthesis with the phonetics of Brazilian percussion.

Cultural &
Industry

One Publishing Latino [USA]

Los Angeles — 2025

Showcase connecting Canadian artists with Latin American music industries, supported by the Consulate General of Canada.

Invisible Friends — AI for Artists and Builders

Toronto Tech Week — 2026

Workshop exploring how artists can use AI as a collaborative tool for visual, sound, and performance based experimentation.

CBC — Music Licensing

Canada — Rota de Infância [Maria and the Band]

Music licensing placement connected to Rota de Infância with Maria and the Band.

Sync &
Commissions

Original music, sound, and visual direction built from a clear authorial perspective.

Work spans songwriting, production, sound design, and audiovisual concept development for releases, performances, and commissioned projects. If it is not produced in house, it is closely creatively directed.

Sync licensing · original scores · film & media · interdisciplinary performance · creative direction

Artist led · concept driven · production aware

Film
Grants &
Recognition
Canada Council / Ontario Arts Council / Toronto Arts Council Project & Operating Grants
SECULT, Bahia, Brazil International Project Grant
SOCAN Foundation Development Support
Education
& Technical

University of Waterloo

Managing AI Projects — Certificate

OCAD University [Toronto]

JavaScript Technologist — 2022

Production
Ableton Live · Modular Synthesis · Audio Systems · Creative Systems
Visual
Projection Mapping · Adobe Suite
Languages
Portuguese · English