Jamie, who was co-ordinating the gig, described it thus:
“The various owners of the bars/venues/places of Courtenay Place are supporting a series of events along Courtenay Place throughout June/July. That means we’re doing a night parade! Twinkly lights! Drums! Dance! Action!”
And it really was – all of the above – and much, much more. It was quite a magical night, in fact.
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After the excitement and crowds of CubaDupa, it was a really nice contrast to be in the playground at Miramar Central School, doing a lovely little performance for their annual Cultural Food Fair.
I always love it when we have heaps of kids in the audience – they’re so enthusiastic! We had a decent-sized group of boys and girls joining our dancers in a spirited imitation of our choreographed dance moves – and they did it really well. There were a few I think would have fitted right in as official Batucada dancers – and it’s always great to find new talent! Perhaps we should get Gordo our gig co-ordinator to have a word with his partner who’s a teacher at the school…
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The theme of our CubaDupa 2024 performance is Batucada Chegou – we are here, we’ve arrived, we are strong and proud. It was reflected in our stage show, in our costumes featuring a new fabric design by director Tim Cooke, and in the giant signs which were paraded alongside us, written in Portuguese, English and te reo Maori. Even our drums were decorated to match – together with handmade flags, handed out to our audience so they could join in the fun.
It was a completely cohesive presentation, months in the making.
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This year CubaDupa very kindly gave us a sort of ninja gig/popup slot outside the Southern Cross on the evening of day 1. A nice low-key, relaxed kind of affair and just the thing to get us warmed up before tomorrow’s Big Gig.
It was a lovely clear crisp night, and we had a large number of performers signing up – over 80 of us in total – which made it extra-special.
The drummers dressed themselves up with fairy lights again, which is pretty much de rigeur for any nightime gig these days. They look so twinkly! It would be great if the dancers could wear them too – they’d look awesome – but sadly it’s really not practical. Their dancing is so energetic, unless the lights were actually sewn onto the costume they’d be lost and crushed underfoot within minutes. Ah well.
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It was a bright and shiny day in Wellington, as befits our maddest parade of the year at the Newtown Fair. I seem to recall reading somewhere that this year’s event was the biggest ever, which makes sense, as it just keeps on getting better and better every year.
Our outfits for the day’s shenanigans were CubaDupa 2023 for the drummers (mostly red with a massive Batucada logo on the back) and my most favourite outfit for the dancers – “Sparkle Ponies”. It’s days like these that I wish I were a dancer so I could wear the outfit. Except I can’t do choreographed dancing to save my life, and no-one wants to see my bare midriff – so I guess I’m sticking with the chocalho for the time being.
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We haven’t done much for the cricket before – and it was great to be asked. Particularly as the payment for our gig included a bunch of tickets for the game. Fantastic! How could we say no?
Our job was to entertain the crowd as they arrived for the Black Caps’ T20 cricket match against Australia at the Sky Stadium. For the first time in ages the drummers got to wear our old black uniform again (dig those extra-ancient starry pants that director Darryn was sporting!) – and the dancers were dressed all in white (with silver accents). It was a good look.
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It’s not often that we have to wear thermals and our special Batucada warm and snuggly red sweatshirts for a gig in February – but there you go. That’s the unpredictable Wellington weather for you, especially in these days of climate change.
We’ve played at the Island Bay Festival Parade for many years, and really enjoy it. It’s a long parade that goes all the way down The Parade to Shorland Park on the waterfront. It’s quite a tricky one to get right, timing-wise. In past years we’ve either gone too slow (2023) and arrived so late there wasn’t time for us to play at the Rotunda, or we’ve galloped along (2021) – not easy when you’re carrying a big drum – and arrived very hot and sweaty and completely knackered.
So it was a bit of a miracle that this year (a bit like Goldilocks) we managed to get it just right. Not too fast, not too slow. And also not that easy marching into the teeth of a howling southerly.
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It’s been a good few years since I’ve been to Stokes Valley, so I did my Google Maps homework, and had it all planned out in my head. Give myself an hour to drive there in case the traffic’s bad. Aim to arrive an hour before the parade begins. Half an hour to find a park. Half an hour to walk up the parade route from Stokes Valley town centre to the start of the parade. It worked very well. It’s a blimmin’ long way up that hill from the town centre to the start of the parade, so I was very glad I’d given myself a good long time to walk it.
I’m not certain that Christian and Joe gave themselves quite as much time. In fact, I reckon they went “Pick you up an hour before the gig? Plenty of time, eh?”. They arrived, somewhat out of breath, a couple of minutes after the parade began. Phew! Nothing like cutting it fine – and I guess you might argue that they actually timed it PERFECTLY. I freely admit that I am incapable of cutting it fine, and always seem to arrive at least half an hour before our earliest muster time. Just in case. Because you never know.
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In 2023, for the first time, Wellington Batucada were invited to take part in the Diversity Festival. As we’re such a large, loud band, we don’t get to do proper indoor stage performances on a proper indoor stage that often, so it was great to get the opportunity to do our thing at Victoria University’s Memorial Theatre, which was the venue for the event. Various members of the band were also featured in other performances throughout the night, which was great, as we were able to watch each other as well as perform!
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Walking Stars is a night-time fundraising event for the Cancer Society, with participants walking a half marathon or a 12km loop in Wellington city. It’s the partner event for the Relay for Life. We have supported both events for many years now, drumming and dancing for the walkers as they head around the waterfront.
Walking Stars brings people together in a fun, vibrant environment to raise vital funds in support of local people living with cancer.
We give the walkers a big lift and we always get lots of smiles and waves from them, plus a few funky dance moves thrown in for good measure.
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