Maracatu & Samba-Reggae tomorrow!

Come to a lovely free gig of awesome drumming and dancing and Brazilian music:

(Tom DG – you have to come because you live round the corner!)

Maracatu and Samba Reggae Drum and Dance Workshops every month with Umbela Arts

Lets kick start the year with the first rehearsals for Maracatu and Samba Reggae, start 2011 with a bang!

Umbela Arts Presents…FESTA UMBELA!

Kicking off from 7.30pm, Umbela Arts host their regular residency; an entertainment filled evening which is totally FREE!

Our DJ’s will bring you the best in African, Brazilian and World Music. You will not be able to stop yourself from dancing!!

Dance performances to live drumming to amaze you and get your senses overflowing, and guess what, we haven’t stopped there, as there will also be live music from two of London’s finest Brazilian bands bringing roots music from North East Brazil to dazzle you!

Come to RICH MIX Cultural Foundation and party the night away with us!

REMEMBER IT’S FREE, BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

Links
Irineu Nogueira
Maracatu Estrela do Norte
ERI OKAN
RICH MIX

Websites
www.irineunogueira.com
www.maracatu.co.uk
www.myspace.com/eriokan
www.richmix.org.uk

There is also a dance and drumming workshop beforehand to which you all most welcome!

On Sunday 30th January 2011, two Carnival Groups based in London: Maracatu Estrela do Norte and Bloco-Afro ERI OKAN, will be hosting open workshops at Rich Mix 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA Map. The classes will be in traditional drumming and dancing from the North East of Brazil, in preparation for Notting Hill Carnival 2011.

These classes are part of a series of monthly sessions that finish in August 2011.
Participation in the workshops does not oblige anyone to take part in the Notting Hill Carnival, and likewise, if there are people who would like to take part in carnival but cannot make all the sessions, that’s OK too!

Drumming
1pm – 3pm – Maracatu drumming
3.30pm – 5.30pm – Samba Reggae drumming

Dance
1pm – 2.30pm- Maracatu dance THERE WILL BE NO MARACATU DANCE LESSON DUE TO TEACHER SHORTAGE.
3.30pm-5pm – Afro Brazilian dance

Classes are £6 each. (£10 for two, if also participating in another class on the same day)

 

Notting Hill Carnival!

Wow, bit of long time since I last posted – too damn busy innit!

But this is a fun update of some video taken of the two bands I played with over the weekend at Notting Hill Carnival.

Too many tales to tell of rain, sun, a wicked gig at Guanabara Saturday night, 6 hours of maracatu on Sunday, 4 hours of samba-reggae on Monday, playing a tribute to London School of Samba on Sunday, being re-united with good friends, playing with guests from Brazil, France, Australia, Edinburgh, Ireland, etc, etc. Jerk chicken.

In short, a life affirming weekend.

Here’s some short clips of video for an impression of some of the drumming action. The first 30 seconds is maracatu, the rest samba reggae.

Warming Up

Part 1

Definitives – London’s Best Dance Crew

Well, that was exciting. We* backed up London dance crew, Definites, last night in the finals of London’s Best Dance Crew 2010 – and they only gone and won!

London’s Best Dance Crew

(*We – being members of Maracatu Estrela do Norte & Eri Ekon, adding some Brazilian drumming spice to the backing tunes for the first of Definitives’ two sets)

When the videos of the finals are available, I’ll post them up, but suffice to say they were awesome and well deserved the win – though all the groups were pretty damn good.

Here they are in another event – a pity the music isn’t a bit more audible, but you get the idea.

And yes, we also came on to the same level of applause and cheering. Nice!

Backstage: here’s the big cheque they were presented with, alongside the drum I played – and some lovely legs! (not mine)

Impressively, it was presented to them by the only current recipient of the Victoria Cross, Johnson Beharry. Quite an honour.

And here’s Lilly & Sam in front of the splendid artists entrance at the back of Fairfield Halls.

Well done Definitives, you rocked!

[Top Photo:  The Definitives at London’s Best Dance Crew 2010. Bruce Woods of Tactical Innovations Limited, other less brilliant photos: The Author]