Batucada at the Island Bay Playcentre Fundraising Gala

This is the second year we’ve played at the Island Bay Playcentre fundraiser, and we really enjoy it. The audience may be small in stature, but they are large in enthusiasm – especially when they get a chance to have a go on our drums!

We did a 15-minute warm-up down the street outside the Empire Cinema (how sad that it’s closed down!), attracting a few curious onlookers as we played. Once we were fully warmed-up, we paraded along The Parade (how appropriate!) to the Playcentre, drumming as we went. Continuing to drum, we made our way single-file down the side alleyway and into the back garden, where we gathered in formation and completed our first piece, Samba Reggae. Continue reading

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

A 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

Wellington Batucada plays the netball test

I 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

Happy birthday, PSA!

On 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

Midnight gig to celebrate Chile/Mexico Independence Day, 21/09/13

We knew this one was shaping up to be a good-un. A confirmed audience of 1000, a great venue, and a crowd that was very likely to have a love of, and an appreciation for, music from South America. 23 members of Batucada playing – a “large small group” of some of the more experienced players in the band.

For this kind of gig you simply have to have a warm-up/practice beforehand. We play so much better when we’re warmed up a little – and with an audience as enthusiastic as this one, it was vital.

We had decided that a good place for a quick 15 minutes of playing was down in Waitangi Park (as we had no indoor practice venue that we could use) – within walking distance of The Grand on Courtenay Place, decent parking nearby (no small consideration on a Saturday night in town when you’ve got heavy drums to lug around), not too close to any apartments – and hopefully if our sound did carry a bit, anyone living nearby would be used to a certain level of weekend noise, seeing as they live in the CBD. However, the best laid plans and all that, and we did actually wake someone up, which was unfortunate. We’re very sorry!

Having quickly completed our run-through, we headed off to The Grand, which is a fantastic old brick building on multiple floors in the middle of Courtenay Place. The place was packed, and we could hear the DJ spinning some mad Latin choons upstairs. Once we were all sorted and ready to go, we headed upstairs and gathered outside the doors of the main dancefloor area, drumming along with the music being played by the DJ. The room was jammed – and it took quite a while for us to work our way through the crowds and onto the stage. Only enough room on the actual stage for our line of surdos (who looked awesome up there!) with the repiniques on a riser off to one side – and the rest of us in two rows, one behind the other, in front of the stage – in the amount of space normally reserved for a single row. It was certainly a squash – and the audience couldn’t have been closer! Continue reading