We 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
The 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.
Continue reading
The Jambalaya Festival has the nicest atmosphere, it’s really well-run (massive props to the organisers who did an amazing job!) and the immersion courses are absolutely fabulous.
21 members of Wellington Batucada made the trip up to Auckland this year to take part in the 3-day samba immersion course with Mestre Fred from the London School of Samba and Budiman – teacher of Samba Masala and front man of Wicked Aura. We were joined by members of Auckland’s AKSamba, Hamilton Samba, Tauranga Samba, Samblasta from Rotorua and Samba de Sol from Nelson.
Each day Fred and Budi taught us so many new breaks and patterns that our heads began to spin with the sheer volume of new information. Their normal playing speed was somewhat faster than we generally play during rehearsals back home, and at times it was all I could do to keep up (and quite often I didn’t!).
It was such a privilege to learn from two such talented and enthusiastic Mestres – and even though at times I thought I’d never remember the new breaks (or keep up!), it’s amazing how much you improve when you’re immersed in drumming for three days straight.
Continue reading
Initially Wellington City Council wanted us to play at the after-party in Courtenay Place, then they changed their minds and said they didn’t… so we decided to do it anyway for free (with their blessing). Awesome night!
Timbalada by flight3577
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.
Continue reading
…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
Photo by Fairfax NZ
Monday – Auckland, Tuesday – Christchurch, Wednesday – Wellington.
On Tuesday morning I was vaguely wondering where I should stand to watch the All Blacks victory parade in Wellington the following day, when an unexpected BatMail from Caroline arrived in my inbox.
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE REQUIRED!!! BATUCADA IN THE TICKERTAPE PARADE TOMORROW!!!
Importance: High
The email began with “Good morning everyone and whoopdeedooo!!!” and closed with “DRUMMERS ONLY if you are keen and available for this please email pronto as please with YES YES YES TO THE ABS PARADE in the subject line.”
Yup – Wellington Batucada had been invited to perform in the All Blacks Rugby World Cup 2011 victory parade. We’d be playing in what would turn out to be Wellington’s biggest ever event of its kind, and I went a little weak at the knees at the prospect. Whoopdeedooo all right! Continue reading
Well OK, our awesome All Blacks did it – but I’d like to think the stadium of 4 million may have helped just a little…
Wellington Batucada has been honoured to play our own small (and loud) part in the Rugby World Cup 2011, and we’ve had an absolute ball performing as part of Wellington’s Festival of Carnivale. The fans have been fabulous, the games have been thrilling, and the end result couldn’t have been more exciting if it’d been written as a Hollywood movie. Continue reading
It was a funny old day, weather-wise. Rain one minute, sunshine the next, and a hailstorm about an hour before we were due to play. Should have known the Welli Weather God wasn’t going to let us down, because it had cleared up nicely by the time we gathered in Courtenay Place Park at 5pm. Continue reading
Click any image to see the full-size photo gallery.
It seems like we’ve been counting down the days for ever, but the Rugby World Cup 2011 is finally here! Wellington Batucada has been invited by the City Council to do a series of performances for the World Cup celebrations, and our first gig was in the Fanzone on opening night. Continue reading