Category Archives: Videos

Wellington Santa Parade 2015

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Tinsel and starry hats in the summer sun

Wellington Santa Parade 2015 - Paquita & Christian - photo by Alan ShukerLisa’s instructions for costuming were “Red or green T-shirts to match the Christmassy theme, plus whatever Christmas-related pimpimg you want to do on your drums, heads and hats”.

Some people took this more seriously than others – particularly Paquita who turned up wearing the most amazing starry headdress I’ve ever seen. Awesome!

Such a beautiful sunny day, the crowds were enormous (70,000 they said), we were pretty awesome (and oh so modest!) and Tess (surdo #3), Charlotte (caixa) and Shelly (surdo #2) all played their first gig. Great stuff! Continue reading

Upper Hutt Christmas Parade 2015

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A new Christmas parade experience for all

Upper Hutt Christmas Parade - photo by Craig HunterSo – we’ve never done the Upper Hutt Christmas Parade before, but the organisers had seen us on parade earlier in the year, absolutely loved us, and invited us to lead the 2015 event. How cool!

It’s quite a long route, which is always good because we get a real workout, and the streets were absolutely thronged with people watching the parade. Lovely atmosphere too – we had a great time.

It was Simon-the-German’s first gig with us and it was great to have him there. He plays in a samba band in Nuremberg, Germany, and saw us performing at the Coburg Samba Festival last year. He’s in New Zealand for 6 months or so on his OE, and got in touch the minute he arrived in Wellington. It’s very cool to see how far our reputation reaches these days 🙂 Continue reading

Brazil National Day 2015

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Happy National Day, Brazil!

Brazil National Day 2015 - photo by Roy GlassWellington Batucada was honoured to be invited once again to play for guests at the Brazilian Embassy’s Brazil National Day celebrations – a celebration of the 193rd Anniversary of the Independence of Brazil. The event was held on 7 September 2015 at Te Whaea (NZ School of Dance), Wellington.

A group of drummers and dancers performed at the invite-only event, with Wellington Batucada featuring at the top of the bill. Guests including the Brazilian Ambassador danced enthusiastically (and skillfully) to our Brazilian beats. Continue reading

Beginners’ drum workshops start Sunday 16 August 2015

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Learn samba drumming with Wellington Batucada!

UPDATE 01/08/15: We’ve had a huge response from people wanting to attend this latest series of beginner’s classes, and we are now FULL. We will not be accepting any more registrations or expression of interest for the upcoming sessions.

However, if you’d like to put in an early registration for the next series (which will be sometime after March next year), please feel free to do so. Instructions and registration form on our Join page.

Wellington Batucada in the RWC 2011 All Blacks victory parade

Wellington Batucada in the RWC 2011 All Blacks victory parade
Photo by NZ Sevens (click to enlarge)

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Wellington Batucada plays WOMAD

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An unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience

Wellington Batucada group photo after our WOMAD gig - photo by Graham DwyerYou may recall a few months ago we hassled you incessantly to vote for us in the WOMAD Performer Competition. The prize was to perform at WOMAD 2015.

You may also recall that we won the competition (thank you SO MUCH for your votes!), and last Saturday we claimed our prize, and played for an hour on the Gables Stage at the WOMAD festival in New Plymouth.

Wow. What an amazing experience. When I got up that morning, all excited and full of anticipation, I told myself that this was very likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and a highlight of our drumming career – and that I should enjoy every single moment of it.

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WOMAD busking gig, Wellington Night Market

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Vote for us – you know you want to…

Another day, another vote-gathering busking session in our quest to win the People’s Choice competition and play at WOMAD next year. Woop! Woop!

This time we entertained the lovely folks at the Wellington Night Market on a Friday evening, the front row wearing the W-O-M-A-D headpieces that Carin made (she’s so creative!).

Instead of playing I went around the audience with my clipboard, explaining why we were playing and what it was for, and gathering votes. I filled two or three pages with names and email addresses, all of which were duly entered onto the WOMAD website with confirmation emails sent to the voters themselves. The system is working! We’re doing well!

Full rendition of Ijexá – video by Phuong Nguyen

Donate to the CubaDupa Boosted campaign!

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Get involved as Wellington Batucada becomes part of Carnival at the top of Cuba Street

2009 Cuba Street Carnival

Creating a spectacle at the 2009 Cuba Street Carnival

MAKE A DONATION RIGHT NOW!!!

We are honoured to have been chosen as one of seven groups to spearhead the Wellington CubaDupa Boosted campaign. Each group will be featured as part of next year’s inaugural CubaDupa festival, being held in and around Cuba Street, 28th & 29th March 2015. The Boosted campaign aims to raise an additional $250,000 to match the Wellington City Council’s generous $250,000 funding, which will make CubaDupa the awesome event that we know it can be.

The Carnival Zone target on Boosted is to raise $10,000, which we hope will be equalled by a generous match donor. Wellington Batucada will also be putting in $10,000 of our own money.

Featuring Wellington Batucada and samba groups from across New Zealand; the Carnival Zone will fill the streets with music, dance and festivity throughout the weekend. Continue reading

Please vote for Wellington Batucada to perform at WOMAD 2015!

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We want to play at WOMAD!

Wellington Batucada has entered the competition to perform as a roving band at WOMAD 2015. The band that gets the most votes, wins.

Check out our video:

If you think we would be good at WOMAD, how about giving us your vote?

To vote, click on the Batucada entry page on the WOMAD website and cast your vote. You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your vote (check your junk mail folder if you don’t).

Thanks so much! Every vote counts, because you can only vote once from any given email address.

If you have friends who might also consider supporting us, please pass this info on to them.