rhythms of the city blog

yes, sunny belfast, a place that has trouble(s) oft associated with the act of parading with drums, but not today. invited by the beat carnival initiative, we are given the task of bringing our brand of carnival-styled popular music to the streets, and later to a club night. there are many many other colourful acts in the procession, including grupo bongar from pernambuco, our friends from the beat, belfast and masamba from dublin. a good mixture and a happily surprised audience lining the streets to the city hall. the beat had built a lovely float for us, that did well until getting stuck (just before the parade end) in a suddenly narrowed-due-to-roadworks section of the route. a small oversight, which, given the sun and fun only added to the enjoyment of the day. in the evening, we headlined the carnival showcase (see here) danced coco and ciranda with bongar, and if we didn’t before, we now think that belfast is a cool place.

rotc @ belfast carnival showcase 2010

following various successful tours to ireland, this was our first chance to hit scotland. the people of glasgow are not averse to enjoying themselves, we had heard, so sun-hats at the ready we hit the train for a packed weekend of samba, instigated/invited by samba ya bamba, our brothers and sisters north of the border. our last chance to play back to back with SYB had been in a brighton carnival encounter in 2003 or 2004 (so far back no one remembers). their creative attitude, arrangements, drum’n’bass and kilts had impressed us then as they did now. timetable of the weekend?: showcase gig, parade, stage after parade then off to boteco do brasil for feijoada and another gig in more intimate settings. the party did not stop there as we took over the lounge car of the caledonian sleeper to return to work in london by monday morning. but, yay/alas, the train’s engine had a different plan, and we got in late enough for a refund.

rotc @ glasgow west end festival 12-13 jun 2010

tonight rotc are guests of PLAP (pedro luís e a parede). these are the guys who started monobloco and it was but a few years ago that we invited the percussionists of the group (celso, C.A., mário and sidon) to give their first workshop in the uk. that was history, and so was the rest that followed. now all the samba world of uk and ireland know about them, their fantastic arrangements and carnival organisation. tonight we joined them + some other guests from near and far…. simeon from masamba, hej and marcus from norwich, jp from toque tambor. here is a video of pedro’s most famous song ‘rap do real‘

PLAP with rotc @ guanabara 26 may 2009

it was surely for a niche market (if any market) that we embarked upon recording this CD documenting the developments in repertoire and arranging that was rotc’s journey in the last 5 years. with an aim to show all sides of our repertoire we covered classic sambas (and a little samba reggae), salsa (yes, you heard it here first), funk from brasil and usa, and originals from bosco de oliveira (côco and maracatú) and mystro (hip-hop)…. representing almost all the singers who have fronted the band over the years. most important in this massive collaborative effort was the participation of son veneno, australia’s top latin band who were our friends and inspiration during their stay in london. read below songlines review:

rotc cd - songlines review feb 2009

our firey friends have invited us once more to perform with them, a special occasion it always is, and even more special as they are probably here to pick up an award. was it anything to do with us?…. first hitting reading festival with the st. albans trio in 2008 we come in as a surprise finale to their set on the hit ‘jump in the pool’. today for an award ceremony it is all finale there is no long build up suddenly going up a gear. it is top gear straight away, or at least 0-60 quickly. the dancers are feathered up to the eyeballs (and further) drummers barak, fabio, hammadi, wesley, christiane, bosco, maurizio and sara hold it together at the back with jack, rob of ‘fires’. guitarist edd shakes his maraca. lead singer ed girates with the dancers ella, mariana, leny, samara (he is known for his dancing probably as much as they are) before they manage to work across the assault course of a set, and bridge over moat/mosh-pit (read more about moats here), and samba into the audience of vips. the show grabs the headlines (which is the point). good call phil (their manager), let’s do it again soon.

NME awards 2009 with friendly fires