We are pleased to announce that our 2012 beginners’ dance workshops will start at 12.45pm on Sunday 27 May, and will run till 3pm. There will be 6 workshops in total, and costs are $60 for the series if paid in full, or $12.50 per workshop. The workshops are run at our usual practice space, Thistle Hall, which is on the corner of Arthur and Cuba Streets.

The dates for the workshops will be Sunday 27 May, Monday 4 June (Queen’s Birthday), and Sundays 10, 17, 24 June and 1 July. Each workshop will run from 1 – 3pm, apart from the first which has the earlier start time of 12.45pm, to allow for the registration process.

We run our beginners’ dance workshops at the same time as our beginners’ drumming integration sessions, which gives aspiring Wellington Batucada dancers the opportunity to get their groove on to live drumming right from the start. Our dance director Arawhetu Berdiner and senior dancer Hillary Reid will guide you through our dance moves and choreography, all of which are linked to the various rhythms, patterns and breaks played by the drummers.

To find out more, check out our Join page. The page includes a form to fill in if you’re interested in taking part – and please pass this message on to anyone else you think might be interested.

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I thought you might like to see just how awesome these guys are.

This is a video doco of the London School of Samba’s preparation for the 2011 Notting Hill Carnival. Fred’s in charge of training and directing the batteria – he’s the one in the white suit talking about having spare drums available for the band about halfway through the video. You can also see him directing the batteria during the parade itself:

This is Budi and Wicked Aura in concert – recorded sometime in late 2007 at a franchise of Sarawak’s famous Rainforest Music Festival set in Penang, Malaysia. The punters, including the band were well drenched in some serious rain and mud. It’s awesome – I can’t stop watching it:

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Jambalaya isn’t the biggest festival in New Zealand, but it’s certainly one of the most participatory. A large percentage of the people at the festival are there to take part in one of the immersion courses, which means they’re most definitely up for a bit of participation – and that “up for it” attitude seems to rub off on everyone else, turning virtually every gig into madness and mayhem on the dance floor.

We’d seen a bit of it first-hand on the Friday night when AKSamba played an awesome gig on the main stage. The crowd went nuts, dancing like mad things, and it was altogether rather impressive. I reckon there were probably 50 band members performing – some of whom had been at the immersion course with us – they were wearing their brightly-lit LED costumes and even had the word “AKSAMBA” spelled out in lights worn by a line of drummers at the back.

AKSamba differ from Wellington Batucada in that you have to be invited to join the band – so only the best drummers get an opportunity to stick around after their beginners classes are over and rehearse with the main group – and eventually, if they’re good enough – to perform with the band. This means that technically they’re pretty awesome, and they also play at speed – quite a bit faster than we do down in Wellington.

Having experienced the might of AKSamba in concert, I have to confess I was somewhat intimidated and a wee bit nervous about our upcoming gig the following night. Only 21 of us, our basic (though very cool) black uniforms (no pretty lights!) and Darren our director only just back with us after about a year of travelling the world with his band, Batucada Sound Machine. It was going to be a hard act to follow…

Darren very sensibly decided we’d keep it short and sweet, and play just a couple of pieces that he (and we) were completely confident about playing – samba and samba merengue. We’d include a bunch of breaks that Fred taught us at last year’s Jamabalaya immersion, and Darren would do the directing for samba with Vladko taking over for the samba merengue. We had a bit of a run-through in the afternoon after immersion was over for the day, and then all we had to do was enjoy the main festival and await our moment in the spotlight at 8:15pm.

This year the main stage was indoors in a huge shed-like building. There’s a raised stage at the very back, and then an enormous wooden dancefloor in front of it, with bleachers reaching up towards the roof in front of that, facing the dancefloor and the stage. We were playing at the back of the dancefloor, just in front of the raised stage, which meant there was a considerable distance across a wide expanse of dancefloor until you reached the audience sitting on the bleachers waiting for us to begin.

21 isn’t a large number for a Wellington Batucada gig, and it meant that we only had one full-time repinique player – Dr Phil – with Darren and Vladko backing him up on repinique when they weren’t directing. We also only had one timbau player – Carin, returning to the timbau for this gig after many months of playing repinique with the band; and one surdo secundo player – Lisa – who only joined Wellington Batucada a few months ago after the most recent beginners’ course. Quite a challenge for all of them!

We walked out on stage, settled ourselves in formation, and Darren began the call and response that signals the opening of our samba piece. I’m not quite sure what happened – whether it was the really rather good acoustics in the shed, or the excitement of the occasion, or our fervent wish to show how good we were in response to AKSamba’s wonderful performance – maybe it was a combination of all three – but whatever it was, those first few notes from Darren and our answering drum beats seemed to lift the roof off the place – and lifted our playing into the stratosphere along with it.

It.was.amazing.

Dr Phil played his solo repinique call-to-action the strongest I’ve ever heard him play – and we were off into the samba. It seemed as though the crowd were just waiting on the edge of their seats for the signal to get up and dance, and the moment the samba began, they were up on their feet, filling the dancefloor to capacity and leaping around like mad things.

Have you ever done a gig where the audience is so fantastic, and so into-it, and so energetic and joyful that they inspire you to play the best you’ve ever played – and your playing in turn inspires them to dance more, and respond more, and smile more – which in turn inspires you to even greater heights?

This was that gig.

One of the beautiful samba dancers who’d been performing at Jambalaya had offered to dance with us, so on she came in her full costume – the crowd was so tightly-packed around us that she barely had room to move, but they made way for her and danced with her as they danced with us.

I remember watching a little old lady in the middle of the dancing crowd – getting her groove on like she was a teenager – and I remember thinking “Go for it, little old lady! You rock!”. I remember seeing the grinning faces and flailing limbs of many of our friends from the other New Zealand samba schools who were at the immersion course with us. I remember the entire audience leaping in the air in time with us during our “Jump” break at the end of samba, and laughing at themselves when they all jumped at a moment where there isn’t actually a jump (but sounds like there’s going to be).

I remember Vladko waving his arms around in time with our playing during merengue, and then turning round to face the crowd and realising that they were all waving their arms around in time with him. I’d love to have seen his face as it dawned on him that he could get them to do anything he wanted them to – which he then proceeded to do, much to everyone’s frantic enjoyment.

We didn’t play for very long – maybe 20-30 minutes – but it was one of the best 20-30 minutes of my life. It’s such a huge rush to play so well, for people who love what you’re doing and who respond so positively and energetically to your music. We couldn’t have asked for a better audience.

Afterwards we all gave each other massive hugs backstage and jumped around (quietly) in our excitement – and then wandered outside into the cool night air (playing like a crazy person makes you very SWEATY). On my way out I was accosted by a woman who wanted to know where we rehearsed, and how often, and until I told her she should find out about joining AKSamba, was all set to move down to Wellington just to come and play with us. It was a perfect end to a perfect show…

The feedback we got afterwards was that people love dancing to Wellington Batucada – they love our vibe, and our groove, and they say that when we play, they just have to dance. Now that’s the kind of feedback that would make anyone happy!

PS: You may be wondering where the video is – or even photos – or something. We haven’t found any yet, sadly. Everyone we know tells us they were too busy dancing to take video or photos, which is a real shame, because we’d love to see and hear ourselves in the Best Gig Ever. Get in touch if you have any footage of us that you’d like to share, mkay?

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The Jambalaya Festival has the nicest atmosphere, it’s really well-run (massive props to the organisers who did an amazing job!) and the immersion courses are absolutely fabulous.

21 members of Wellington Batucada made the trip up to Auckland this year to take part in the 3-day samba immersion course with Mestre Fred from the London School of Samba and Budiman – teacher of Samba Masala and front man of Wicked Aura. We were joined by members of Auckland’s AKSamba, Hamilton Samba, Tauranga Samba, Samblasta from Rotorua and Samba de Sol from Nelson.

Each day Fred and Budi taught us so many new breaks and patterns that our heads began to spin with the sheer volume of new information. Their normal playing speed was somewhat faster than we generally play during rehearsals back home, and at times it was all I could do to keep up (and quite often I didn’t!).

It was such a privilege to learn from two such talented and enthusiastic Mestres – and even though at times I thought I’d never remember the new breaks (or keep up!), it’s amazing how much you improve when you’re immersed in drumming for three days straight.

Here are a couple of the breaks we learned, courtesy of the very dedicated Gino Marchione who filmed pretty much everything and is in the process of putting a bunch of beautifully-edited videos up on Vimeo:

Bowing Break (Mestre Fred)

Alternative TamGroove (Mestre Fred)

Bombardier Break (Mestre Fred)

Kompang Break (Budi)

Funk Groove (Budi)

From Funk to Reggae (Budi)

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We are pleased to announce that our 2012 beginners’ drumming workshops will start at 12.45pm on Sunday 15 April, and will run till 3pm. There will be 6 workshops in total, and costs are $60 for the series if paid in full, or $12.50 per workshop. The workshops are run at our usual practice space, Thistle Hall, which is on the corner of Arthur and Cuba Streets.

The dates for the workshops will be Sundays 15, 22, 29 April, and 6, 13, 20 May.  Each workshop will run from 1 – 3pm, apart from the first which has the earlier start time of 12.45pm, to allow for the registration process.

To find out more, check out our Join page. The page includes a form to fill in if you’re interested in taking part.

Workshop places are filling up fast, so if you want to be involved – get in quick!

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Newtown Fair’s an old favourite for Wellington Batucada – such a great atmosphere, and the crowd always likes to get involved and join in with the dancing, as you can see…

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Initially Wellington City Council wanted us to play at the after-party in Courtenay Place, then they changed their minds and said they didn’t… so we decided to do it anyway for free (with their blessing). Awesome night!

Call and Response by BloodyMaryOnTheRocks:

Timbalada by flight3577:

Samba by flight3577:

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I thought there was an unwritten law that the weather is always insanely good throughout the Wellington Sevens weekend, with nary a drop of rain to be seen. Seems the Weather Gods mislaid the memo this year, because Saturday was wetwetwet.

At noon we did a short performance outside the stadium gates to a small and slightly damp crowd – check out the impressive fluoro-clad recording equipment! Video by AtThe7s:

Once we’d finished we were bussed back to the start of the waterfront parade route, and decided (seeing as the weather was so crappy) to do a bit of an impromptu gig under the arches next to Mac’s Brewbar.

The acoustics were amazing – I’ve no idea how it sounded from outside, but underneath the arches we were going off! A performance space like that where you sound LOUD and AWESOME – tends to galvanise you into playing better and stronger and more intensely – so we ended up playing LOUDER and AWESOMER as a result.

I think the Sevens fans in the pub next door enjoyed us too. And I think they particularly enjoyed the French maid costumes sported by one or two of the band, who’d been wearing them at the Sevens the night before…

Batucada French maids
Bill (surdo), Nigel (surdo), Debs (superfan), Christian (caixa) and Lisa (surdo)

Eventually we left the comparative shelter of the arches and ventured out along the parade route in the rain. Lovely. The crowds didn’t really start to increase in size until we got to the sails at Queen’s Wharf where there were heaps of people in costume milling around.

We milled around with them for a while, then we got word that we were leaving the waterfront for a minute and heading towards whatever-was-going-on underneath the sails. It was hard to see where we were going, as there were so many people jam-packed all around us, and the band ended up pretty much in single file, slowly moving through the crowds towards the sails. Suddenly in front of us I could see steps leading up onto what I assumed was a stage. “Crikey! We’re doing a spur-of-the-moment gig on stage?? Ooooookaaaayyyyyy…..”

One by one we climbed the steps – attempting to continue drumming as we went (not easy!) – and once at the top we each realised that it wasn’t a stage at all – it was a catwalk positioned at head-height across Queen’s Wharf square. Not what any of us had expected!

It’s quite surreal to be suddenly thrust into the limelight like that, having to march proudly along a catwalk in the midst of thousands of enthusiastic costume-clad Sevens fans, while playing your drum, in single file, trying a) not to fall off the catwalk, b) to smile at and interact with the crowd, and c) to keep in time with your fellow band-members – most of whom you can no longer see or hear because they’ve already disembarked at the other end.

Needless to say, the boys and girls in their French maid outfits got the biggest cheers, and by the time the last band member got off the catwalk we’d all gone hopelessly out of time with each other. Bit like Chinese Whispers with drums really. No-one seemed to mind though.

We were all set to play a little tune (in time with each other this time) one we’d gathered together again, but the DJ had other ideas and launched into another choon of his own (maybe he doesn’t like samba!) so we sloped off back to the waterfront instead and carried on parading…

French maid Bill at the Southern Cross after the gig -
ce qui est bon n'est-ce pas?

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After the success of our “Pied Piper” parades along the waterfront during the Rugby World Cup, the City Council decided to see if it would also work for the Sevens. They called it the “walking bus” in their publicity, and hoped we would get a massive crowd to follow us from the Fanzone to the stadium, in the same way that they did during the World Cup.

The big difference between a World Cup rugby game and the Sevens is that the rugby game has a specified kick-off time and if you’re late, you’ll miss it. So there’s clearly going to be a large number of people all heading to the stadium at around the same time.

Sevens weekend is different. Costumed ticket-holders gather in huge numbers in the bars and restaurants that line the waterfront, but they all make their way to the stadium at different times – they drift along whenever they feel like it and they aren’t constrained by a single magic kick-off moment.

The walking bus therefore became the bus that some people catch and others are just as happy to watch as it passes by – both of which were fine by us! The biggest roar from the crowds came as we marched and drummed past the Foxglove bar on Queens Wharf – the balcony was so tightly packed with revellers, I don’t think they could have fitted in a single extra body, and they certainly responded enthusiastically. Great fun.

Sadly I couldn’t take any photos during the parade itself ‘cos I was busy drumming – but I should be getting some actual pictures of the parade from our photographers soon. In the meantime here are some pre- and post-parade Hipstamatic shots for your enjoyment and delectation:

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…and here are some more of the actual parade by Geoff Infield:

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…because Wellington goes collectively mad, becomes completely extravert for two days and dresses up in all manner of nutty costumes. It’s totally awesome!

Batucada has been taking part in the Sevens festivities since 2003, and once again this year we were invited to lead the Wellington International Rugby Sevens parade.

It was a good day for parading through the city streets. Sunny but not too sunny (and therefore not too insanely hot for drumming), no wind, and great crowds as usual.

Batucada dancer in the Sevens parade
Photo by Fairfax NZ

At the end of the parade route we line up on either side of the entrance to Civic Square and drum the teams through into Civic Square itself, which is always fun. For a start we get a great close-up view of all those lovely rugby boys, and we also get the opportunity to give each team their own special drumming fanfare – and see which teams respond.

I reckon pretty much all of them had a bit of a wiggle to our music as they passed by – but some teams definitely grooved more than others…

Top prize for dancing to our beat goes to Kenya, who can be absolutely relied upon to dance their way enthusiastically through the samba line. We love Kenya.

This year Samoa and Tonga came joint second, when a number of their players (and coaches) decided to get up-close and personal and dance duets with our dancers (who I’m sure didn’t mind at all).

Here’s a wee bit of media coverage:

Sights and sounds of the Sevens parade

Thousands of people have lined the streets of central Wellington for the Sevens Parade of Nations.

Led by the Batucuda drummers, teams are riding on individual floats themed from their home countries and accompanied by cheerleaders.

Stuff, 2 February 2012

The article includes a really rather awesome video with tons of Batucada all the way through it. Yay! Thanks, Stuff! Check out the video.

Screenshots from the Sevens Parade video
by Hamish Coleman-Ross (Stuff)

Wellington Sevens Parade by evokenz:

Quite a bit of Batucada in this one as well – Sevens parade occupies Civic Square by ONE News:

Wellington Batucada - ONE News video coverage screenshot

Samba reggae at the start of the parade – video by orbzuc:

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