Category Archives: rio trip dec 2012

more extensive reading about our trip here: – barak’s songlines feature – becca’s blog for songlines: part 1 – part 2 – part 3 – noemi writes for: londonjazz.blogspot – one of the articles covering us in rio press: o … Continue reading →

this was the last night for band activities of our rio adventure. following a masterclass with rio’s elite godfather of the bateria (the master of the master, who revolutionised carnival samba arranging) mestre odilon costa, he awarded us 10 points … Continue reading →

treat it like your home, they said…so we did. caipihostel are the nicest people in the dodgiest neighbourhood. their place was our base for much of the trip, their front room our rehearsal venue (see pic), their cupboard under the … Continue reading →

its not often you feature in a cartoon, unless you are famous that is. sargento pimenta, rio’s beatles-in-brazilian-rhythm bloco, are famous enough to have (a) a following of 1/2 million in the 2nd year of parading in carnival, (b) their … Continue reading →

monobloco, the world’s most commercially successful bateria and the people at the centre of rio’s street carnival rebirth since 2000, are generous people. they created the inspiration for rotc to pursue an adventurous line in playing music of styles that … Continue reading →

having been in the sambadrome early in december to catch the serious discipline of rocinha’s bateria, we took up the offer of their leader (and our friend) mestre maurão to rehearse with them. a samba-grilling was going to be the … Continue reading →

viva rio, NGO working with empowering projects in favelas as well as lobbying to reform drugs laws, did not need to ask us twice to play at their party. our new instant friend (bloco leader and viva rio project manager) … Continue reading →

this is where it started, in what was a quiet corner of the financial district on a sat afternoon, became a bumping and grinding street party by the evening. noemi sang lead for the first time with a reduced band … Continue reading →