History of MaSamba

The History & Achievements of MaSamba

Masamba Samba School

History and Achievements – July 2025

History

Masamba Samba School was created on the huge wave of enthusiasm following the 1994 Big Bang Festival at the City Arts Centre. Initially the group was set up as a team-building exercise for the staff of the arts centre but demands for performances and workshops soon saw the group becoming independent and working in partnership with the City Arts Centre on numerous projects until the Centre closed the doors on the Moss Street premises in 2000.

Masamba has always had an open-door policy of encouraging those with little or no previous drumming experience to attend our weekly community workshops, as well as maintaining a semi-professional performance group which is available to play a wide range of events.

We also have a highly successful youth wing – ‘Masamba Youth Project’, which has played at festivals and events throughout the country, travelled to Yorkshire and Belfast, as well as producing a CD of their own work in late 2004. In 2016, the group presented at the worldwide MISTEC (Music in Education Teacher Education Commission) Conference, as a model of good practice.

Ongoing events - Performances

Masamba plays roughly 30 performances a year, mainly in Ireland. In that time, we have developed ongoing relationships with some of the country’s key festival events such as, St. Patrick’s Festival (Dublin), Ballina Street Festival, Lisburn Mayor’s Parade, Belfast Lord Mayor’s Carnival, the Liberties Festival, the Virginia Pumpkin Festival, and many appearances at the Dublin Pride Parade

Masamba are no strangers to indoor club performances either. Over the years we have played the Gaiety, the Olympia, the Village, Vicar Street, Crawdaddy (the Pod), the Sugar Club, Lost Lane (Dublin), 10 (Waterford), Passion (Carrick-on-Shannon), Trinity Rooms (Limerick), Radisson Hotel (Galway), to name but a few.

We have also made numerous appearances on television including ‘the Late Late Show’, ‘Saturday Night Live’, ‘Live at Three’, ‘Ireland AM’, etc.

Ongoing events - Workshops

We firmly believe in the notion of lifelong learning and are aware that many groups and individuals are keen to explore their creativity through drumming. Each year we deliver over 120 workshops within our organisation, hosting a minimum of two workshops per week. Most of these are open to the public and are affordable or free.

In addition, we are regularly invited to work with other groups in schools, universities, youth clubs, and for companies who see samba as a powerful teambuilding tool. In 2024, we delivered over 700 such ‘external’ workshops, working with around 4,000 people in the process.

Recent Highpoints

October 2011, Masamba travelled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago Brasilian Music Festival, and to deliver workshops in Evanston Illinois, and Kenosha Wisconsin.

April 2014, Masamba sent a delegation to perform at the Carnaval de Toulouse, in partnership with our colleagues in Samba Résille.

September 2014, Masamba teamed up with Ulysses Opera Theatre and composer Tom Lane for a performance piece, ‘Harp – A River Cantata’ which launched the Dublin Fringe Festival.

March 2015 – The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins officially opened Masamba’s new rehearsal facility on Bow Lane West, Dublin 8. The event is also attended by the Brazilian Ambassador to Ireland.

August 2015 – Members of Masamba are joined by John Hicks (Aquarela, Paris) and Fabio Allman (Monobloco, RJ, Brazil) to record the first ever samba enredo in English. The song is a collaboration between John Hicks and Masamba’s Musical Director Simeon Smith, and celebrates the literary history of Dublin city.

July 2016 – the Masamba Youth Project performed and presented at the worldwide MISTEC (Music in Education Teacher Education Commission) Conference, and presented as a model of good practice.

January 2017 - Masamba Commissions a mural for the outside of their rehearsal space to be painted by renowned street artist and activist Will St. Leger, in consultation with members of the Masamba Youth Project. The mural was based on Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, referencing the connections between Swift and the Liberties area of Dublin. There is a gallery of photos from the project here.

April 2017 - Cia Celta Brasil - Masamba hosts a group of 30 Brazilian-based Irish dancers, as they prepare for the World Irish Dancing Championships. The two groups rehearse and perform together and start to work on some ideas for a future collaboration.

July 2017 - CVLTO do FVTVRV - In July 2017, we were invited to collaborate with visual artist Stephan Doitschinoff from Sao Paulo, Brasil, on a major exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The group exhibition, entitled 'As Above, So Below" investigated the relationship between spirituality and art, and Stephan's section of it especially interested us, because of the inclusion of symbolism from candomblé and umbanda, as well as having a social justice agenda. The Musical Director for the project was the legendary drummer Iggor Cavalera from Sepultura/Cavalera Conspiracy/MixHell.

December 2019 - Support slot for Ara Ketu at the Button Factory - Ara Ketu began as an Afro-Bloc in the 1970s and have become one of the best known pop acts in Brazil today. Masamba had the honour of playing a 40-minute support slot for the band when they played a sold-out show in the Button Factory in December 2019.

June 2020 - 'A young heart sings to the beat of a drum' by Connor Rousseau is published. This is a 60 minute documentary on the community of Masamba with a special focus on our membership and our work in St. James's Primary School, Dublin 8.

October 2021 – Rotting Roots - Rotting Roots is a collaboration between Masamba Samba School and Afro-Brazilian dancer Alessandra Azavedo, which explores the connection between the world of the living and those who have passed, through music, dance and spoken word. The show was created for a Hallowe’en celebration in Dublin’s North East Inner City, called Canalaphobia, and funded by Dublin City Council.

June 2022 – AfroBrasilÉire, DCC Live Event Mountjoy Square - Masamba coordinated a project with Criola Dance and Coisa D’Preto, 2 Brazilian acts, to deliver an afternoon of Afro-Brazilian inspired entertainment in Mountjoy Square.

November 2022 - Rhythms and Rhymes of Resistance Seminar - This event was organised by Masamba for the University of Limerick as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. The day was a mixture of presentations from academics based in Ireland and Brazil, as hands on workshops in music and dance, and was attended by the Brazilian Ambassador.

February 2023 – Samba Résille Masterclass - We hosted almost 60 members of Samba Résille (Toulouse) for a week long masterclass in drumming and dance. In addition, we organised a small social event where the group could meet with members of Masamba in an informal setting.

April 2023 – Masamba begins a collaboration with the National Concert Hall to deliver workshops as part of the Music in Mind Programme. The programme was created by the NCH and Mental Health Ireland, which aims to develop opportunities for people with mental health concerns to participate in music based activities. So far, we have delivered two projects in Mullingar and projects in Arklow, Finglas and Tullamore, with more projects planned for the future.

October 2023 - NEIC/Mud Island Hallowe’en Project - We delivered a series instrument workshops with local children and adults, using sustainable materials, under the guidance of Brazilian instrument maker Marcos China. Some of these instruments were incorporated into a performance at the Mud Island Hallowe’en Celebrations. This project was funded by the NEIC Community Arts Initiative.

November 2023 - Child in the City Conference, Brussels. Masamba delivered a paper on the work we do with children and how that interfaces with Dublin City Council and other key stakeholders in Dublin City. https://vimeo.com/870217033

July 2024 – Dudu Tucci Masterclass. To celebrate Masamba’s 30th Anniversary, a series of events were planned to span the year. In July, We welcomed our mentor and collaborator, Dudu Tucci back to Dublin to deliver a two-day drumming masterclass with band members, ex-members and other invited guests.

August 2024 – collaborative workshop with African master drummer Petit Mamedy as part of the Big Bang Festival of Percussion. This workshop was delivered at the National Concert Hall, mixing African and Afro-Brazilian rhythms to great effect.

September 2024 – National Ploughing Championships

Through our partnership with the National Concert Hall, Masamba’s workshop team were invited to deliver three days of workshops at the Government of Ireland compound at the Ploughing Championships.

September/October 2024 – The Big Scream

The Big Scream is an initiative of Dublin City Council, which aims to combat anti-social behaviours often associated with Hallowe’en celebrations, and create safe, family friendly events that can be enjoyed by all the citizens of Dublin’s North Inner City. In 2024, Masamba was contracted to deliver a series of workshops in six locations with children and young people. These workshop fed into the official press launch of the festival, and into performances on Hallowe’en Night on Sean MacDermott Street.

November 2024 - Masamba30 show at the Sugar Club

Dudu Tucci returned to Dublin for a once-off show in the Sugar Club. This show told the story of the band through music, from some of the earliest pieces in our repertoire, to some recent compositions, with each piece representing a collaboration with a tutor, a master drummer, or group which has expanded our knowledge of and passion for Afro-Brasilian music.

July 2024 - Liberties Carnival Parade

Masamba Samba School co-ordinated a small carnival parade as part of the Liberties Festival in July 2025. The event featured members of the Masamba Community Band and the Masamba Youth Project as well as Atomic Stage School, Freedom dance Project and rather Gather/Fusion Murga. This event was supported the Dublin City Council Arts Office.

Masamba Pageants at a glance:

Amazonas - Glory of the Rainforest (2004)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=269220&id=75186972800

We're Off to the Final! (2006)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71132&id=75186972800

The Legendary Kings of the Congo (2007)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71120&id=75186972800

The Circus (2008)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71117&id=75186972800

The Chocolate Caravan (2009)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122882&id=75186972800

Bloco Afro Brasil (2010)