maSamba

The Sounds of Brazil

We were very upset to learn of the passing of our friend and colleague Ken Dawson.

Ken played with MaSamba during the time he spent in Ireland in 2005/2006, and was a valued team member, always positive and smiling and genuinely one of the nicest people you could have the pleasure of meeting.

Ken has been ill for some time, and MaSamba members have been recollecting their memories of Ken over the last few weeks. Some of the stories include Ken having to ask band members to explain the concept of buying rounds in a bar to him, and then enthusiastically trying the concept out for himself, delighted that he had cracked an element of Irish culture.

On St. Patrick’s Day 2006, one of the coldest and most miserable days ever, Ken cut his hand badly playing surdo (bass drum) in the main parade in Dublin. He got back to base, with a drum covered in blood, but didn’t hesitate to volunteer to play another parade in Bray, to cover the fact that some of our visiting drummers had abandoned their responsibility because of the weather!

There is also the time Ken had a couple of drinks too many and serenaded the entire bus with Frank Sinatra songs all the way home!

Ken really wanted to learn about Irish culture and to ‘fit in’, but not at the expense of always been a proud Canadian. In Ireland, we often mix up American and Canadian accents, but Ken would always quietly make sure that anyone who assumed he was American learned the truth! Ken was always keen to explain any query we had about life in Canada. He also introduced the band to maple cookies and other Canadian treats as part of his ‘promote Canada’ campaign!

When I visited Toronto in 2010, Ken was on hand to give lots of advice, and help me connect with most of the key samba bands and key players. What was amazing, was that Ken had only just moved to Toronto himself, so he really must have put some work into finding out all this information, but never alluded to the fact – typical of Ken.

On that trip he was the best of hosts, and we sat up late into the night at my hotel, catching up on news from both sides of the Ocean – a lovely time.

Luckily for us, Ken made a special effort to visit us last year, as part of a trip to Europe to attend a conference. During the (very short) visit, we managed to have some food together, have a couple of drinks together, and most importantly, play some samba together. By this time, we knew that Ken had been very unwell, but he played it down, and was in really great form, treating us yet again with Maple Cookies and all sorts of Canadian goodies!

It is impossible to sum up someone of Ken’s immense character in just a few words, but if I had to I would include caring, sensitive, gentle, cheerful, generous, talented, strong, proud and despite all this – humble. Ken has changed all our lives for the better, and we only hope that he is now in a better place.

‘Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam’

Simeon Smith, 18th February 2013.

There was a time when the term ‘collaborator’ was almost universally seen as negative, as it had associations with those who sided with the Nazis in the occupied countries during World War 2.

In the last couple of years, however, the word has become much mor widely used, and mostly in the positive sense of artists, musicians, etc, work together to create new work which is a fusion of their experiences and skills.

Of course, we at MaSamba are no strangers to collaborating with some amazing artists, including Kila, Paddy Casey, Monobloco, the Beat Initiative and many other groups from the worldwide samba community. It is always an interesting challenge working with new groups, and the rewards are usually well worth the effort!

So it is with open arms that we welcome a whole series of opportunities that have landed on our doorstep in the last few weeks.

Firstly, we have been approached by a Dublin-based theatre company to provide live percussion for an upcoming Beckett production. This could be a very interesting challenge, and one we are definitely looking forward to.

Just last week, we were approached by singer/songwriter Andrea Nicole, who has been making a stir with her new single ‘I Need You’, which has been ‘adopted’ by Spin FM. From our discussions, it seems that we are very much on the same page, as regards a passion for getting it right, and we are meeting next week to rehearse together and explore some ideas for recording.

Finally, we have mentioned our exchange project with Samba Résille from Toulouse here in the past, and in recent times we have been exchanging music with a view to performing some tunes together when they visit Dublin in June.

So, it’s a fab time for collabs, here in the MaSamba camp. We’ll keep you posted on all of these projects as and if they develop.

With the Holiday Season a receding memory, it is time to properly wake up, stretch, and get back to work for another year!

The office has been open since last week, but last night we were back into rehearsals, and were joined after an extended absence by our Crazy Spanish Sambista, David Garrido (or Daveeeed, as he is often known). Also, back with us after a shorter absence was Riona Nolan, so we had an almost full house, and got through lots of music, and had a few laughs along the way.

Today, we started back in Marino College with their lunchtime samba crew, and immediately learned that the group has a gig in a few weeks, so straight down to work!

Immediately after that session, we had a couple of meetings in Donore Avenue and Basin Lane to plan the next term for our projects there, and both of them will resume properly next week.

So, it’s quickly returning to normal in the MaSamba camp, and we’re looking forward to an event-filled 2013!

We are back in the rehearsal space tired, but very happy after an excellent start to our newest project in the local area – this time working with Mater Dei primary school.

Mater Dei is on Basin Lane, Dublin 8, under the shadow of the illustrious Guinness Gravity Bar. For some reason, the back wall of this flagship tourist location faces Basin Street, but then, this is the side of Dublin that our government would rather the tourists don’t see, as it is a small island of local authority housing and schools, largely cut off from the rest of Dublin. The Celtic Tiger managed to miss this area completely.

However, the school is a haven of learning and support for the local children, and while it is clear that these kids come from a tough area, they are mannerly, very receptive, and many of them are showing real talent.

We will be working one day a week in the school between now and Christmas, and hopefully, funding can be found in the new year to continue this valuable work.

Currently, the work is being supported by the MaSamba Youth Project and City of Dublin Youth Service Board.

The big day is finally here! We are delighted today to be attending, and playing at, the wedding of Kate Larkin and Ronan Carroll. Kate has been a member of MaSamba for many years and is a bit of a serial offender, in that she has left the band several times to go off and study, travel and even work away from Dublin, but has always re-joined the fold as soon as she could.
Ronan is a lucky guy, and a great guy. Like many MaSamba members’ ‘partners’ he gets roped in to helping out with logistics (carrying drums), coming to gigs, taking photos, and generally being an extra unpaid member of the team, but has always done it with good grace.

With schools and youth clubs back in full swing after the Summer holidays, we are busy connecting and re-connecting with many of our long-term clients, and getting several workshop programmes up and running.

Tomorrow, we return to Coláiste Dulaigh, Coolock, after a gap of a few years, to deliver a series of workshops there. We have had some great successes there in the past, and we have every faith that the Northside will be rocking to the sound of the drums before too long!

On Thursday, we are starting a new project in St. Paul’s Secondary School, Nth. Brunswick Street. We are delighted about this, as this school would be very much in our target area for developmental music projects. It is also great to have the support of the school itself, who are very enthusiastic, and also the local school completion programme. We will be working here initially until Christmas, and after that we will review it, and see if we can extend out the work further.

On top of this, we have re-commenced work in Scoil Treasa, Donore Avenue, which is one of our longest established projects, and we are looking at some exciting opportunities for this group to perform in December.

We are also meeting with another school in our local community of Dublin 8 tomorrow, to assess if we can contribute to a really interesting project based on Primary Movement Therapy. Something like this will demand a lot of personal attention in the initial months, but hopefully, we can deliver a good project, and one that moves the frontiers of community music a little further forward!

All in a weeks’ work, but on top of this, we have an Arts Council funding deadline on Thursday evening, and, best of all, we have our special Jiggle Jam gig, alongside Manteca and the Tin Box Co. on Friday night – that should be a stormer, and we’re really looking forward to it!