Category Archives: Performance

Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC

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Waterfront parade from Queen’s Wharf to the Stadium

Surdo line at the Phoenix gameThis was the first time we’ve done anything for Wellington Phoenix in aaages, and we were really pleased to be asked to take part in their new pre-match waterfront parades.

We gathered at Queen’s Wharf and waited for the parade of schoolkids to arrive from Civic Square. Once they reached Queen’s Wharf, we hopped onto the tail-end of their line, and together we all marched along the waterfront to the Stadium. It was a pretty big crowd, all very excited and enthusiastic about seeing the Phoenix in their first home game of the season, as were we. Continue reading

Island Bay Playcentre Fundraising Gala

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How sweet is this?

2012 Island Bay Playcentre Fundraising GalaWe were rather pleased to have been invited to take part in the Island Bay Playcentre Fundraising Gala this year – our smallest ever audience (haha!).

A very small and select group of Batucadans (is that a word? It is now…) was chosen to play this gig – I think the organisers were a bit worried that we might be too loud for the little ones if there were too many of us… and a lovely time was had by all. Here’s a video and some pics: Continue reading

World Fair Trade Day Global Party

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Drumming for a very good cause – and a ninja gig as well!

Batucada tamborimsWellington Batucada was asked to play at this year’s annual World Fair Trade Day, when the World Fair Trade Organisation and its members promote global awareness of fair trade. It’s a great cause, and we were happy to play our part.

In Wellington the event is part of Fair Trade Fortnight – an opportunity to celebrate Wellington’s Fair Trade City status, and show the huge support of Wellington businesses for Fairtrade. Continue reading

Jambalaya 2012 – Fred and Budi

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Fred and Budi at their samba workshop during JambalayaThe best thing about the Jambalaya samba immersion course is the chance to learn new breaks and patterns from samba Mestres. New Zealand is a long way from pretty much anywhere, so to have Mestre Fred Turuka from the London School of Samba and Wicked Aura frontman Idham Budiman (aka Budi) from Singapore come all the way here to share their knowledge with us was a real honour.

I thought you might like to see just how awesome these guys are.
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Jambalaya 2012 – Wellington Batucada gig

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Quite possibly the best gig EVER

Jambalaya isn’t the biggest festival in New Zealand, but it’s certainly one of the most participatory. A large percentage of the people at the festival are there to take part in one of the immersion courses, which means they’re most definitely up for a bit of participation – and that “up for it” attitude seems to rub off on everyone else, turning virtually every gig into madness and mayhem on the dance floor.

We’d seen a bit of it first-hand on the Friday night when AKSamba played an awesome gig on the main stage. The crowd went nuts, dancing like mad things, and it was altogether rather impressive. I reckon there were probably 50 band members performing – some of whom had been at the immersion course with us – they were wearing their brightly-lit LED costumes and even had the word “AKSAMBA” spelled out in lights worn by a line of drummers at the back.

AKSamba differ from Wellington Batucada in that you have to be invited to join the band – so only the best drummers get an opportunity to stick around after their beginners classes are over and rehearse with the main group – and eventually, if they’re good enough – to perform with the band. This means that technically they’re pretty awesome, and they also play at speed – quite a bit faster than we do down in Wellington.

Having experienced the might of AKSamba in concert, I have to confess I was somewhat intimidated and a wee bit nervous about our upcoming gig the following night. Only 21 of us, our basic (though very cool) black uniforms (no pretty lights!) and Darren our director only just back with us after about a year of travelling the world with his band, Batucada Sound Machine. It was going to be a hard act to follow…
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Wellington Rugby Sevens waterfront parade #2

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Drumming in the rain, French maids, and an appearance on the catwalk

I thought there was an unwritten law that the weather is always insanely good throughout the Wellington Sevens weekend, with nary a drop of rain to be seen. Seems the Weather Gods mislaid the memo this year, because Saturday was wetwetwet.

At noon we did a short performance outside the stadium gates to a small and slightly damp crowd – check out the impressive fluoro-clad recording equipment!

Video by AtThe7s

Once we’d finished we were bussed back to the start of the waterfront parade route, and decided (seeing as the weather was so crappy) to do a bit of an impromptu gig under the arches next to Mac’s Brewbar.
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Wellington Rugby Sevens waterfront parade #1

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All aboard the Friday walking bus!

2012 Rugby Sevens day 1 - photo by Alison GreenAfter the success of our “Pied Piper” parades along the waterfront during the Rugby World Cup, the City Council decided to see if it would also work for the Sevens. They called it the “walking bus” in their publicity, and hoped we would get a massive crowd to follow us from the Fanzone to the stadium, in the same way that they did during the World Cup.

The big difference between a World Cup rugby game and the Sevens is that the rugby game has a specified kick-off time and if you’re late, you’ll miss it. So there’s clearly going to be a large number of people all heading to the stadium at around the same time.

Sevens weekend is different. Costumed ticket-holders gather in huge numbers in the bars and restaurants that line the waterfront, but they all make their way to the stadium at different times – they drift along whenever they feel like it and they aren’t constrained by a single magic kick-off moment. Continue reading

Wellington Rugby Sevens parade

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We absolutely love Wellington Sevens weekend…

…because Wellington goes collectively mad, becomes completely extravert for two days and dresses up in all manner of nutty costumes. It’s totally awesome!

Batucada has been taking part in the Sevens festivities since 2003, and once again this year we were invited to lead the Wellington International Rugby Sevens parade.

It was a good day for parading through the city streets. Sunny but not too sunny (and therefore not too insanely hot for drumming), no wind, and great crowds as usual.

Batucada dancer in the Sevens parade

Batucada dancer in the Sevens parade
Photo by Fairfax NZ

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