Rehearsal this week 22 April cancelled

I am very sorry (again!) but because of an incredibly busy week, I think it's best to cancel this Thursday's rehearsal. 

• On Wednesday night, some of us have a small but important gig (only 6 players) 'for the benefit of all of us' - more about that 'benefit' very soon!
• On Friday night, we have another big Reds game at SunCorp (they expect over 30,000 visitors that night). As always, this will be a long night.

So, to avoid tiring myself too much and possibly a few of you as well, and because I don't want to neglect my family life too much either, I have made this decision. Don't worry, I'll still be doing plenty of free classes in the next couple of months!

Talking about Friday night, we still don't have enough people for this important gig, can I persuade anyone who has declined for that night to change their mind? Please?

To All Shekere Players, . . .

An interesting polyrhythmic arrangement for our shekere players to do solo acts in Maracatu rhythm ?



Amalgama is a Latin American percussion trio based in Brussels.

And .... an interesting clip from Michael Pluznick .

Reds Home Game - April 17th

More pictures here

Details for Saturday's gig @ SunCorp

Thanks to all of you who have replied to my emails, we currently have 13 people confirmed, with maybe a couple more. Will be a great vibe, I'm sure!

• Where: SunCorp Stadium (Reds vs Bulls)
• Timetable:
• 5.15pm I'll arrive with car & trailer, start unloading instruments
• 5.30pm you guys meet at boom gate, go to dress room for face painting
• 6.00pm - 7.00pm we play at Northern Plaza (Caxton Street end - this has changed). Some breaks in between 'sets'. I have requested NOT to play on both sides - too tiring
• 7.15pm - ready to play in stadium
• 7.30pm - kick-off, play during 1st and 2nd half

• Dress code - we'll get (new) Reds shirts, please wear black pants. This time we'll take the shirts home for use in next games
• No car parking unfortunately except for me and the trailer. The Reds does not have the arrangement with the car park opposite the stadium like Roar, unfortunately
• This time, no tickets available for guests, unfortunately. If anyone really needs one let me know though
• In case of rain we will seek shelter to protect instruments and fragile sambistas
• In case of a win, we hang around until the team leaves the field (I stuffed that up last time)
• Rehearsal this week and next week (15 and 22 April) will be free for all! Those people not playing on Saturday can buy me and other performers a beer ;-)

Erin	Caixa
Denis	Caixa
Remko	Repinique
Josh	Repinique
Darren	S1
Brian	S2
Fernando	S3
Will	S3
Warren	S3
Lynne	Shaker
Gail	Shaker
Claire	Tamborim
Pri	Tamborim

Some points that I feel I have to make, reluctantly:

• Of course, please be on time: 5.30pm sharp. Not 5.35pm, please plan ahead. As always we have to get in as a group because of security issues. 
• As you all know, no one in the samba school is required to play at gigs. If you do, fantastic, if not, that's really OK. I never put real pressure on people to play at a gig. However, once you have confirmed you play at a gig, I do expect you to be there. Of course this is because of the commitments we have as a group to the organiser, and to each other. Last minute cancellations certainly don't amuse me, and add to the level of stress during the gig, which makes it less enjoyable for everyone. Of course, legitimate reasons are OK.
• If you are playing at a gig (any gig), I expect you to be there for the full length of the gig, and not walk out in the middle of the event, unless agreed with me. Certainly not without discussing this with me. I feel such behaviour really lets the team down.

I look forward to playing again this Saturday, it has been too long already! And, there's more gigs coming up soon, as you know!

I will confirm who plays what instrument later this week by editing this post.

Any questions, let me know!

Heads up - upcoming gigs

Just a quick heads up about some exciting gigs in the next couple of months:

• Fri 30 April, 9pm - Queen Street Mall, to assist Dorian in her exciting Music Video Mash Up project and do the count down for the launch
• Tue 18 May, evening - Power house. Yes that's right, the Power house (turbine hall), home of our first ever gig and still one of the best places in Brisbane for us to perform. This will be for the awards ceremony for Dorian's project.
• Fri 28 May, evening - Sunnybank State Highschool, remember the great gig last year? Also Helen is teaching here, she joined us after seeing us last year!
• a couple more currently under negotiation, more info soon!

No need to confirm to me just yet, but maybe write it in your diary already!

No class tonight 8 April

Very very sorry, but I have been sick since Tuesday and, although I'm starting to get better, just not well enough for work or Samba tonight. Hope to see you next week!

Turma do Pagode

An interesting video clip from Turma do Pagode ( Sao Paulo, formed in 2006 ).

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Upcoming gigs at SunCorp

Hi all

Following our success at Suncorp Stadium a few weeks ago we have been asked to play for the next 3 home games of the Reds!

The dates are:

• Saturday 17 April, 7.30pm
• Friday 23 April, 7.30pm
• Saturday 15 May, 7.30pm (this will be Fernando's last gig!!!!!!)

The times above are kick off times, so we would be playing some time before that.

Could you please let me know by email if you'd like to play on any/all of these? I hope to have all of you there, as always!

Cheers
Remko

PS: if we can do all gigs we'll have free rehearsals for over a month!

Samba World Percussion

Darren and myself are heading up to Ziggy's tomorrow morning.

http://www.sambaworldpercussion.com/index.html

If anyone wants anything please let us know and we can pick it up for you while we are there.

Cheers

Warren

Outstanding!

To everyone who played tamborim last night:

You all sounded terrific!

I felt like a proud Mama listening to all of you do such an amazing job at the schmeckedy-schmecking.

Keep up the good work!

No rehearsal next week, but....

I will be in Melbourne next week so will have to cancel next week's class (1 April), sorry about that. The Polish Club will be busy with Easter preparations so they might have cancelled us anyway.

However, tonight is a special night, as it's Eric's last time before he moves to the US. Let's have a few beers and a very special pagode, and sing lots of songs with the bateria.

Hope to see you tonight!

Foam

I bought a big box to carry all snares. To protect them, I'll need some foam, about 2-4 cm thick.
Does anyone have some spare foam around?

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.