Thank God It’s Friday!
Despite the recession and all the doom and gloom, we have had a few reasonably busy weeks, with this past week being particularly interesting. Here’s a breakdown:
On Monday, we had to cancel the normal show band rehearsal, as Poor old Des is tied into a FAS training course. However, this meant that the office was open late, organising things for the week ahead, and trying to locate the whereabout of missing jazzers from London (Barak Schmool – come on down!).
Tuesday, we began our Summer Drumming series for young people from the inner city. We had a nice little group, and got a piece of hip-hop down with them. We have great hopes for this group in the coming weeks!
Sarah unpacking our new costumes from Sao Paulo - almost like Christmas morning!
Also on Tuesday, our new costumes arrived from Sao Paulo. These are in the Bloco Afro style, and are specifically for our new show ‘Bloco Afro Brasil’. Our costume maker Nilson, has really pulled out all the stops this time! The costumes look amazing, and we can’t wait to get them out from the street.
Wednesday is our big rehearsal night, and we had a great session, working on new elements for our Rio Samba, and on Samba Afro music for our new show ‘Bloco Afro Brasil’. There were many causes for celebration on Wednesday, and a trip to the pub after rehearsal was in order!
On Thursday, MaSamba’s rehearsal space began to resemble the ‘United Nations of Samba’, as we were treated to workshop with visiting Brasilian percussionist Emilio Martins. Emilio delivered a great 3-hour session on Samba Afro, Samba de Caboclo, Cabula and Barravento. Even though none of these rhythms are new to MaSamba’s members, Emilio brought a really interesting new perspective and some great inputs on technique!
The workshop was made all the more special, by the participation of some of our friends from Chicago, namely Chris Hasselbring and Kirsty Montgomery from Evanston Escola de Samba. We connected with Chris, when Simeon visited the group in February and it is clear that there a lot of similarities between the Chicago group and the work that MaSamba is doing, so it was great have them join us in Dublin.
Thank God It’s Friday. Friday was spent tidying up after a busy week, and planning for a busy weekend ahead. We also met again with Chris and Kirsty to discuss possibilities for future collaboration.
For the weekend, we are playing a fundraiser for the Blackrock Hospice on Saturday, and playing for the warm-up for the Munster Hurling Final in Thurles on Saturday – full steam ahead!
