Jumping Into June!

As the school year winds down, the Masamba camp is a hive of activity!

This evening, we are delivering a couple of workshops with the 5^th Port Sea Scouts. It’s a shame there isn’t a scouting badge for samba, but we are sure that the group will be well able to work as a team, and play music as a group.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is Cruinniú na n-Óg, ad we return to Dunleary/Rathdown for a couple of workshop projects as part of the celebration of youth creativity. In the morning, we are in Shanganagh Park. This project is special, as there are already some percussion instruments permanently installed in the park. We are calling this project Parc Perc and hope to combine them with our own drums to put together two interactive workshops that will truly be unique.

Later in the afternoon, we head to Kilcross Community Centre for a more traditional samba drumming workshop. Both of these events are supported by Dunleary Rathdown County Council, as part of the nationwide Cruinniú na n-Óg celebrations.

Sunday is a day of rest, but on Monday, we are straight back into the fray. We are splitting the team, with Niall and Fernando travelling to the Dundrum Shopping Centre to lead a performance of Sambanarden. Sambanarden is made up of children from three schools in the Killinarden area (Sacred Heart Primary School, Knockmore Junior School and Scoil Chaitlin Maude), totalling 60 samba players in all.

Meanwhile, Simeon and Marcio will be in St. Brigid’s Girls National School in Ballinteer, delivering 8 workshops with students there. This will be our first time in this school, so we are looking forward to making some new musical friends.

On Tuesday, we return to some old friends in Scoil Treasa Naofa. We have a long history of working in this school, which is just up the road from is in Donor Avenue. Every year the school hosts a  multicultural week, and it’s a great opportunity for us to dust off the samba drums and make some noise (well, music).

On Wednesday, we are moving even closer to home and travelling all the way across the road to visit Canal Way Educate Together. This should be especially interesting for us, as several members of the Masamba Youth Project past and present attend this school – hopefully, the remainder of the student body will be as talented as the ones we already know!