Peace, love and harmony

We were delighted to have been invited to take part in Te Rā o te Raukura for the first time this year. The festival is a family orientated event with a focus on health, art, and education; with kids’ amusement rides and over 100 stalls with a massive array of foods and crafts.

The name of the event, Te Rā o te Raukura, is significant to the people at Waiwhetu and the tangata whenua in the Wellington Region. The ‘Raukura’ was used as a symbol of peace, love and harmony by the prophet Te Whiti O Rongomai at Parihaka. Te Rā o te Raukura commemorates the day in 1881 when Parihaka was invaded, and celebrates unity in Lower Hutt City and the wider Wellington Region. Continue reading

Kapiti Strawberry Festival for Mary Potter Hospice

An enthusiastic Batucada crew made their way up the coast to Paraparaumu Beach on the hottest day of the year so far (hooray! summer’s here!) to take part in the Kapiti Strawberry Festival, which is a fundraising and awareness event for Mary Potter Hospice.

We were scheduled to do two 15-minute sets at the festival, and our first set was timetabled for 10:30am. At 10:20am there were about five of us there, ready to play. Uh oh! I think next time we’ll need to a) set off from Wellington earlier and b) assume we’ll have to park miles away from the stage and take that into account…

I think the Strawberry Festival must be the first festival gig I’ve ever done anywhere where they were actually running to schedule – brilliant organisation – which didn’t help us either. By 25 past 10 there were a few more of us, and on the dot of 10:30 we marched onto the grassy area in front of the stage – here we come, ready or not! Continue reading

FIFA Soccer World Cup Qualifier game, Wellington waterfront parade

The second leg of the All Whites’ World Cup qualifier games against Mexico, with Mexico up 5-1 after the first game.

A massive hill to climb for the All Whites, but a capacity crowd nonetheless, all hoping for a miracle and looking forward to an enjoyable match, whatever the outcome.

Wellington Batucada was invited to do one of our waterfront “Pied Piper” parades, leading the crowds along the waterfront from Queen’s Wharf to the Stadium, and then doing a bit of a show on the walkway once we got there. Carin and Tim G shared the directing, and a great time was had by all. Continue reading

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