Mass Frevo Orchestra at CubaDupa 2025

Music for the streets!

Wellington Batucada in the Mass Frevo Orchestra at CubaDupa 2025 – screenshot from video by Geeta Blundell Sampatkumar

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Bryn van Vliet got together with Batucada director Darryn Sigley to create Mass Frevo Orchestra at CubaDupa 2025. Both have spent time in the north of Brazil, and both have experienced the joy and exuberance that is Frevo – the region’s street music.

Frevo-de-Rua (Street Frevo), is an instrumental style, played in a fiery fast tempo with brass instruments – trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and tuba. Marching percussion also plays a part. Bryn brought together the brass players, and Darryn supplied the percussionists – that’s us.

Mass Frevo Orchestra – Frevo is a vibrant and energetic music style hailing from northern Brazil, especially prominent during Carnival and winter festivals. In the state of Pernambuco, Frevo fills every street with its infectious rhythms and lively spirit. Characterised by high-energy grooves and mass participation, this genre features a mix of portable instruments like sousaphones, trumpets, trombones, woodwinds, and handheld percussion. Imagine it as Brazil’s answer to New Orleans’ second line music—dynamic, exuberant, and impossible to resist. Local composer and performer Bryn van Vliet will create their own mass street performance of Frevo to close out CubaDupa 2025!
New Zealand Music Commission, 21 November 2024

We were able to have a couple of rehearsals with brass and percussion in the run-up to CubaDupa, and then a final full-on rehearsal the morning of our performance. The percussion parts were very specific, and entirely repetitive – it’s quite easy to get into a bit of a trance state playing Frevo – but it’s also super-fast and energetic.

Bryn had written two pieces specifically for this show. Vassourinhas was to be played continuously as we paraded down Cuba Street, and the other, Viva CubaDupa, was to be played along with an on-stage band during our static performance at the Ngā Taniwha Stage.

It was a super-warm day again, and our super-colourful costumes looked super-bright in the strong sunlight. I was wearing my Batucada costume from CubaDupa 2018, which I absolutely love, and which I break out at any opportunity. I wasn’t the only one, as you’ll see from the photos. It’s also super-hot (there’s quite a lot of it), but hey – it’s always worth it for the spectacle…

We gathered at the top of Cuba Street and opened with Vassourinhas, with the brass instruments leading the parade and beginning the piece, and the percussion behind them joining in after the first break. After playing in-place for a while, we began to make our way down Cuba Street towards the Ngā Taniwha Stage.

It was very hot. We were playing very fast. The pattern for the chocalhos was – oh joy – the most difficult pattern we play as members of Batucada. It’s our pattern #2 variation for a piece called Ijexá, and it’s kinda jerky, and kinda tricky, and doesn’t flow as smoothly as some patterns, because there’s a note missing in the middle of each bar. Fellow chocalho-player Lisa and I had realised during our final rehearsal that morning that at the 140bpm pace the song requires, there was no way we could keep up and play it continuously for an hour or so. No way!

We had decided to give ourselves a bit of a break and agreed that we’d each play the rhythm for as long as we could, and then we’d drop down to a much simpler “down” version of the pattern to get our breath back, and then switch back to the full “up” pattern once we were ready. Hopefully, we wouldn’t both be playing “down” at the same time and it would still sound OK. This was helped by the fact that, unlike Batucada where we’re near the front of the band, in the Mass Frevo Orchestra we were positioned right at the very very back. This made a nice change, especially when you’re working hard to get your pattern right.

It was actually really interesting being at the back. Because it was a street parade with super bouncy happy music we gathered a huge contingent of people behind us, following the band down the street and dancing along with our playing. I don’t think people really realise how much concentration it takes to play in a gig like this – especially when it’s a tricky pattern and not something you’ve played very often. As Cuba Street became narrower and the crowds pushed in closer I was VERY grateful to have a few non-playing Batucada friends surrounding us at the back and protecting us from the pushers and the bumpers and the jump-arounders. I absolutely love that our music inspires people to get down and boogie with us – but I also need a bit of space so I can get my pattern right!

Once we reached the Ngā Taniwha Stage and got into our static performance format, with percussionists in one section and the brass instruments in a second section alongside us, it was time to switch from Vassourinhas to Viva CubaDupa. The amplified on-stage band also joined in at this point, and we all experienced quite a long wobbly minute as we struggled to hear the other sections, keep the beat, and somehow gracefully blend our timing together. Darryn did a fabulous job on the ground to get us sorted, and Bryn did a brilliant job on-stage to wrestle everyone together.

We had a wonderful time playing together, the audience danced with us all the way down the street and in front of the Ngā Taniwha Stage too, and we all got transported away by the trance-like rhythms of Frevo. It was a most excellent experience, and we’re super-grateful to Bryn and Darryn for giving us the opportunity to take part.

Let’s do it all again sometime!

The streets were treated to Mass Frevo Orchestra, a huge performance led by multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, composer and arranger Bryn van Vliet in collaboration with Brazilian music specialist Darryn Sigley. Inspired by the vibrant and energetic music style from northern Brazil, the orchestra spread infectious rhythms as it paraded down the street for a final performance at the Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha stage. Van Vliet led a chant that encompassed a collective pride for the festival: “Viva! Viva! Viva, CubaDupa!”
CubaDupa, 8 April 2025