The Lions are roaring!
Last Sunday I attended a rehearsal of the Lions of Batucada who will be performing at Carnaval, Feb 28 at the Crystal along with Grupo Saveiro from New York.
All I can say is: "OMG!!!!!" They are fantastic. The power and precision of nearly 30 percussionists can be overwhelming, and this jaded music critic was overwhelmed. This is music that immediately penetrates your gut and you soul and gets you moving on all levels. The low pitched bass drums, the surdos, connect with your heartbeat while the higher pitched drums, the caixas, repiques and especially the tiny tamborins, really mess with your brain's beta waves and can send you into another world. Does this sound like great dance music? YES!!!! It is!
And the Lions do it with finesse and power at the same time. No mean trick. This group of "volunteers" is highly dedicated, attending one or two rehearsals every week to perfect this really quite complex drum music. So they must be commended for dedication, if nothing else. However, they can likewise be commended for just doing an amazing job with a music I've loved and embraced for the last 35 years. I've experienced this stuff in Rio, Bahia, Rio some more, Austin (with members of the samba school Portela), San Francisco, and even more Rio, and the Lions shake me up as deeply as anything I've heard anywhere (well, except maybe when I was playing caixa with Portela in Rio, and maybe the first time I heard the afoxe, Filhos de Gandhy in Salvador in 1980).
If you like to dance, then you need to get yourself in front of the Lions of Batucada. Your body will love you for it as their rhythms attack you, seduce you, eat YOU for lunch! The power of the pride!
Labels: Lions of Batucada, samba
posted by Carnaval at
9:43 AM
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