Kokomai Creative Festival, Wairarapa

A masked parade, a drumming workshop, a barbeque and a ninja gig on the way home…

Kokomai Creative Festival masked parade - Anny & AlanA while ago, #2 surdo player Bill and his wife Joss moved from Wellington to the Wairarapa – and they’ve become quite involved with the creative and cultural goings-on in their new community.

One of the events that Bill was particularly keen on was the Kokomai Creative Festival, Wairarapa’s first ever region-wide celebration of the Arts. This new festival was staged over ten days in October 2013. It featured an inspiring series of workshops and performances of music, visual arts, film, dance, theatre, culinary arts, literature and free community events held at venues right across the Wairarapa. Continue reading

Silver Ferns vs Malawi

Wellington Batucada plays the netball test

The band in action on-courtI don’t think we’ve ever been part of the entertainment for a netball test before – it was pretty cool, I have to say (and I can confirm that Irene van Dyk is even taller in RL than on the telly!).

The test match was held at the TSB Bank Arena, and we started off by playing some choons in the foyer as people arrived for the game. The acoustics there were surprisingly good, and it allowed us a bit of a warm-up before we did our proper performances on the netball court itself.

Before the game, as the Silver Ferns and Malawi Queens were warming up, we were asked to do a couple of quick performances to keep the crowd entertained. By “quick” I mean less than 5 minutes each, which doesn’t give you very much time to get into your stride at all. Continue reading

Batucada at the Beehive

Happy birthday, PSA!

Batucada at the BeehiveOn Tuesday 22 October we were part of the 100-year celebrations of the PSA (Public Service Association) parading from the Cenotaph to the grounds of Parliament, then performing in front of Parliament after the speeches.

We were really honoured to have been invited to play at such an important celebration day for the PSA, and we had a ball. Continue reading

Whanganui Festival of Cultures

Batucada goin’ up-country… and staying over…

Performing at the Whanganui Festival of Cultures - photo by the Wanganui ChronicleWe were really honoured to have been invited to feature at the Whanganui Festival of Cultures this year. I think it’s the first time we’ve been up to Whangers as a band, and we had a completely brilliant weekend.

It’s quite a drive from Wellington, so we booked a couple of mini-buses (with trailers) to take the majority of the band up there together. Just like a school trip! Fun! Especially when you get to play “Boat, goat, float” (with a side order of “Horse”) on the journey. Continue reading