ABRASSO

Renata has asked me to tell everyone, the new Brasilian Association is holding an official launch cocktail party on Saturday, March 27, from 5pm to 8pm at the Sebel, corner of Charlotte and Ann Street. There will be music, capoeira etc. Forms attached.

Tribal?

OK you have to watch this one till the end. Hermeto Pascoal, from Brazil. Next rehearsal will be in my pool.

Parking at the Polish Club

Over the past few weeks, a number of times the second car park at the Polish Club was closed, causing all kind of issues. My understanding is that this is not intentional, and that the system has been malfunctioning.

I have written a letter to the president of the Polish Club asking for their help in resolving this urgently, in the meantime please could I ask you for your patience?

Staff at the Polish Club have access to a remote control, so they can open the barrier if necessary. It is always possible to drive out as this is sensor driven. So, if you are stuck for parking when you arrive, can I suggest you just let them know to open the gate? I know this is inconvenient, and hope this situation will be resolved asap. Thanks!

Thanks for today!

Thank you everyone for today, I think we did pretty well, especially given we didn't have any snare players. I'm not sure about you, but I was absolutely exhausted after all that, pretty much full on from 2pm till past 6pm.

I didn't know we were going to be in such a small area, I had understood we would have all the area between the stands and the end of the field. Hope it didn't feel to claustrophobic for you. And the rain in the second half only got us a little bit wet, thanks for persisting and continuing to play.

I loved the fantastic feedback from the audience, very positive! The radio calls were sometimes hard to follow, but at the end it took the burden away from me to decide when (not) to play.

I'll have a debrief with the event organisers later this week, I'll let you know the outcome. In the meantime, please let me know any comments you have.

Thanks very much again!

Details for Sunday's gig @ SunCorp

• What to wear: white pants. We will get Reds t-shirts
• Be there: 2.25pm sharp at the Castlemain Street boomgate. It is essential you are on time, as this is when we hand out the necessary wristbands etc.
• Free tickets: email me asap if you'd like to bring a guest
• What we'll do: 3-4pm we'll play at the South plaza (with breaks). 4.30pm till 6pm we'll play during the game. We probably switch sides after half-time.
• Parking - Reds doesn't have a deal with Inform, like Roar, so unfortunately no parking possible.

Instruments

Remko - Repinique

Josh - Repinique

Angus - 1st surdo

Darren - 1st surdo

Elwin - 2nd surdo

Melanie - 2nd surdo

Fernando - 3rd surdo

Warren - 3rd surdo

Brian - 3rd surdo

Pri - tamborim

Maria - tamborim

Eric - tamborim

Miki - Ganza

Gail - Ganza

Lynne - Ganza

Patty - Ganza

After football .... there's rugby!

Following our success with Brisbane Roar, we have been approached by the Reds (Rugby Union) to support them this Sunday afternoon 14 March, at SunCorp stadium! 

It's going to be different from the Roar, and we won't play in the stands but on the field. It's an experiment that I'm keen to try out, and I hope so are you! This is being organised by an event bureau so I'm very keen to show off what we can do!

We would need to be there around 2.30pm. We'd play before and during the game, which finishes at 6pm.

Please let me know ASAP if you're interested by email! 

A good session

Some feedback here: I thought there was a lot to like about last night's practice. I liked learning the beats around the table. I liked that we did 6/8. It's one of my favourite rhythms anyway, but also it's good to have a change from straight samba. I liked that there were opportunities to stop and really work over a section slowly when there was a glitch. That's how we're going to improve our technique.

Generally, I thought we had a good balance of playing and learning. A good night!

Chekere playing

Hi sambistas,
Thought some might appreciate the chekere playing on the jazz guitarist Grant Green's album "The Latin Bit". There is a dedicated chekere player on 6 of the 9 tracks (Carvin Masseaux).

Here is the first track, Mambo Inn. At about 0:50 the chekere holds down this fast triplet roll for the majority of the rest of tune! The dude must have pretty sore wrists.




I doubt he could do it while doing the Brisamba chekere dance though.

Hi all,

Long time no blog, long time no Polish beer and.... bloody long time no bateria!!
Anyway, an opportunity to see you guys again, so feel free to drop by at any time!!

The address is 7 Minno St in Chapel Hill! And NO GIFT POLICY (we move too often, unsustainable...)

Cheers
Cedric, Stephanie and the kids...

New Australian-Brazil Association - Qld Branch

Should we, as a Samba School, do something big with the new Queensland Australian-Brazil Association ( ABrAsso ) to mark its first year anniversary in 2011 ? Like a Carnival Parade or Brazilian Film Festival .

Below is an email message from Priscilla regarding the New Queensland Australian -Brazil Association:

" . . .Hi guys, How are things going?

Yes, I have disappeared but it is because Josh had a knee surgery and has been walking on crutches. Hopefully next week we will be able to go back to our beloved samba school!

Anyway, this is our new Brazilian Association, Abrasso. I hope we can have you and all Brisamba members as part of our team!

Is it possible to upload this to the Brisamba blog so everyone else can see the message? I wish I could email people individually, but do not have email addresses. :-( .

Maracatu Estrela Brilhante 2010 in Recife

From Batuque Brasileiro's blog .

Thank you

Just a quick thank you to everyone who helped pack tonight after rehearsal - it was a world record and I was actually home just after 10pm for a change!

It looks like the packing instructions on the trailer door work! So once I finished packing up the PA inside, everything was packed! And while I hooked up the trailer (with excellent help from Warren, Darren & Nicki) Brian switched off all the lights in the hall!

Thanks everyone, not everyone knows I also spend about 30 minutes setting up before the rehearsal so I'm pleased when I can leave that quickly too!

Another Saint Mary McKillop's Miracle ?

. . . . More miracles here !

Must watch - Tijuca Comissão de Frente

As some of you know, the Comissão de Frente is the head of a carnaval parade for a samba school, and often there's acrobatics and theatre involved. Well, Tijuca, this year's winners, thought it was time for some magic.

Have a look, and think of it next time you're getting dressed for the day!

Surdo levels

I thought some people might benefit from some 'goals' for various instruments. Here's a first attempt to document the levels for surdo players. Use it to set goals for yourself, or to plan where you want to be X months from now. Note this is not intended as a 'must achieve', the bateria can do with all levels, e.g. there's nothing wrong with someone who stays a 'level 1' surdo player and is able to play a strong 2nd surdo!

Here they are:

• Level 1 - able to maintain a strong rhythm on 1st or 2nd surdo, with little slowing down or speeding up
• Level 2 - able to confidently play the intro of a samba on 1st or 3rd surdo, as well as the most common breaks
• Level 3 - able to confidently play the common 3rd surdo rhythms
• Level 4 - able to play surdo solo, playing both 1st and 2nd surdo patterns, as used at the start of many sambas when there is just surdo, cavaquinho, and vocals
• Level 5 - able to play 3rd surdo improvisations that 'fit' within the context of the song

Each level implies complete mastery of the previous levels.

Comments please - does this help? Are the levels reasonable? If enough people like this I'll do the same for the other instruments!

Mangueira 2010

Surdo Choreography

Remko, Can we - all surdo players - practice the choreography similar to the videoclip linked below ?

Olodum
Olodum Alternative

It shows fearless commitment and dedication to the bloco. Will send shiver to the Roar's opponent.

Maracatu Voodooo Dance

Witch-doctor Brian trying to cure Maracatu possessed sambistas.

Doctor, doctor...

I need a maracatu fix. Gettin' twitchy, here. Haven't seen any swishy skirts or heard any shishy xeqeres in a long long time. How about it? :)

That was Amazing MkII

For more pictures, please try the link below:

Brisbane Roar Gig