CubaDupa 2025

On the street once more

Our directors Darryn and Tim decided that for this year’s CubaDupa we would do a big Cuba Street parade, followed by a static street performance, rather than our usual stage performance. It made a nice change, and meant we could focus on getting our playing and choreography just right. The street is where our music comes from, and really, it’s where we belong…

We began at the corner of Abel Smith Street, and played in-place for a bit, before heading off down Cuba. I reckon this was our largest contingent of drummers and dancers for any gig, anywhere – so we looked and sounded pretty spectacular, right from the off. You could tell immediately that it was going to be a good one.

By the time we got down into the depths of Cuba Street where the buildings reach up to embrace you and amplify the beat of the drums tenfold, we were pretty much In The Zone. We were so loud, and the sound was so crisp and clear, it was just spectacular.

Our rendition of “Chegou” just before we reached San Fran – which comes with a bit of singing, some good old-fashioned football-style chanting, and a massive funk-based rhythm in between – was by far the best we’ve ever done it – and it was certainly the loudest and most enthusiastic ever. Goosebumps!

Our static gig was on Ghuznee Street East, which gave us, not surprisingly, a long narrow “stage” in which to perform. For this gig, we ended up in a super-wide and shallow formation, with the dancers in a block alongside the drummers, and all of us facing the audience on one side of the street instead of our more usual position facing down the street with the dancers in a block in front of the drummers.

We had planned to perform our song “Bate Forte No Tambor”, which was written for us and gifted to us by Carlos Ferreira in 2023. Unfortunately, the sound engineer was nowhere to be seen, so a frantic running-around and calling CubaDupa HQ ensued from Darryn, while Tim kept us in a holding pattern playing and dancing samba for the crowd.

Eventually the sound engineer arrived, and we were able to launch into our song. Just as well we had rehearsed it the week before with an equally large number of drummers and tiny sound system, because we could not hear our band or singers at all! Ah well – we know it well enough to be able to sing and play it ourselves without the help of additional singers if we need to (although it’s much better when they’re there), so that’s what we did.

For the rest of the gig we were able to bust out most of our repertoire, which is always great to do, and a fine time was had by all.

It was a fantastic day. The crowds were large and enthusiastic, as they always are at CubaDupa, the sun shone all day, and we did probably the best parade we’ve ever done. What’s not to like? Let’s do it all again next year!

As an extra bonus, from two of our newest band members, the use of a GoPro, taped to the top of one of our giant signs. A bird’s eye view of our entire show from start to finish. Completely awesome!

GoPro footage of our entire parade and street show
Video by Roots and Routes

Photo galleries

Photos by Alan Shuker, Epu Tararo, friend of Erin Krebs, friend of Harriet Payne, Gerry Keating, Gina King, Kamille Joyce, Keane Chan, Kelly Etuata, Linda Rowland, Megan Glass, Murray Telfer, Sarah Jane, Vicky Lin and Yuanindya Inggita. Click on any thumbnail to see the larger version.

We’ve also got some special CubaDupa sets from individual photographers this year, which we’ve separated out to display below, each in their story-telling entirety. Enjoy!