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List of pages in the Sambanui 2014 category
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Author Archives: AliG
List of pages in the Sambanui 2013 category
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Brazil National Day 2014
The 192nd anniversary of the independence of Brazil
We were honoured to once again be invited to perform at the Brazil National Day celebrations – a black tie event held this year at the beautiful (and very grand) Massey Museum Building.
A smaller-than-normal hand-picked group played two sets as the guests arrived and walked the red carpet into the event. Technically I suppose we were playing in the inner foyer of the building – but oh my goodness what a room! A vast open space two or three storeys high within this classical structure made of solid old stone, and the acoustics were – amazing.
Each time we came to the end of a piece and heard the echoes dying away for three or four seconds (which is an unusually long time, as you can imagine), we let out an involuntary “ooooooh!” at the volume of the echo and the sheer wonder of the noise, and the space, and the atmosphere. Just brilliant. Continue reading
Coburg Samba Festival, Germany 2014 (1)
Part 1 – London
A Batucada adventure with Lisa, Christian, Nige, Debs, Dr Phil and AliG
Every summer the small Bavarian town of Coburg holds a rather large samba festival.
It began in 1992 with 20 samba groups performing, and two years later it had grown to 40 groups and 1,000 performers.
Now, 22 years later, 100 samba groups take part, with over 3,000 performers.
It’s now the biggest samba festival outside Brazil, and for three days in July Coburg’s rather modest population of 42,000 swells to an impressive 200,000.
Our adventure began with a random “wouldn’t it be nice” discussion after band practice one Sunday in February – and ended with 5 of us performing on stage with the London School of Samba (LSS) at this year’s Coburg Samba Festival.
This is how it went down… Continue reading
2014 Soccer World Cup – opening game
Brazil v Croatia
Our lovely friends at the Brazilian Embassy invited us to make some noise before and during the opening game of the 2014 Soccer World Cup. As the match was between host nation Brazil and Croatia, it was bound to be a bit of a spectacle, and we were very happy to oblige.
It was a crazy early morning start (and on a schoolday too!), but a bunch of hardy drummers and dancers gathered at Queen’s Wharf to dance and play for the fans, and then to watch the game on the big screen in Shed 6 (and provide suitable accompaniment to any exciting on-screen events). Continue reading