Dressed in whatever we felt like wearing (quite strange to be out of any sort of Batucada uniform!) we had a most excellent afternoon doing an informal ninja gig in our old stomping ground of Cuba Street. We were helping celebrate the opening of the new Taco Addicts food caravan, owned by our lovely dancer Amber.
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A great gig for the crew at the Ode to the Moon Multicultural show at Lower Hutt Town Hall. A fun and vibrant night was had by all.
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Lucy (former Batucada tamborim player) owns El Barrio Latino Bar and was keen for us to do a small gig in June to celebrate the Brazilian festival Festas Juninas – also known as Festas de São João.
Keeping the volume down is a challenge in a small space, so we decided a mini-gig would work best, with 10-12 drummers instead of our usual 20-30. Our dancers came along and danced with the crowd, as there wasn’t space to do a dance performance. So – a bit of an experiment all round.
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Pride is such a wonderful gig to be a part of. We’ve watched this fantastically inclusive event grow over the years to become quite epic, and it’s one of the band’s favourite parades – probably the craziest parade we do. The crowd and all our fellow paraders are so much fun.
Due to the recent tragic events in Christchurch, CubaDupa was moved offstreet this year.
Our Sunday Swan Stage show went ahead as planned – but on-stage at the Opera House (ooohhh!!).
Wellington Batucada drummers and dancers perform live at the Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand – as part of CubaDupa 2019. This year we celebrated the life and music of Mestre Moa do Katande, who was an inspiration to us all.
Due to the recent tragic events in Christchurch, CubaDupa was moved offstreet this year.
This meant, sadly, that all of the street performances planned by Wellington Batucada and our samba whanau from around the country could not go ahead. So instead, we decided to host a massive Samba Jam on the Saturday at our rehearsal space – the Cook Island Hall in Newtown.
Wellington Batucada host a samba jam party at the Cook Island Hall for all our samba-loving friends and bands from around the country. Video by Tom S Etuata.
We adore Newtown Fair. And this year, the weather was spectacular. As, of course, were we.
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Wellington Batucada drummers and dancers perform in Wellington’s Island Bay Festival Parade. Video by Tom S Etuata.
Thank you from Island Bay Festival:
Hi everyone! Slightly belated, but still heartfelt thank you to you all and your groups for yet another fantastic parade!
Couldn’t do it without you all, and your enthusiastic participation, marching, singing, dancing, trike-riding, acrobat-ing, instrument playing and marshalling really makes it an awesome event. Please pass on my thanks to everyone from your groups who was involved. Til next year… Mel
We love performing at Te Rā o te Raukura Festival. It’s such a brilliant community event, and we really enjoy wandering round all the stalls and checking out the other acts, as well as doing our bit. It’s got such a friendly vibe.
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Normally when we are invited to parade on or around the field at a Wellington Phoenix game, they lose. OMG! The curse of the samba drummers!
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