BLOCO DO SUL- samba band
(Band of the South)
Bloco Do Sul play samba, a music that evolved
in Brasil with the meeting of
African Yoruban slaves and the native South
American Indians, and is a long
way from the TV "Come Dancing" kind of
samba.
Over the last ten years there has been a
growth of Samba Schools throughout
the UK. Most cities now have
one. They are modelled on the "Escolas de
Samba" from Rio de Janeiro, where preparations
go on all year round for the
Rio Carnaval in March. Huge floats are
constructed for this event with many
hundreds of people participating in each
Escola. Traditionally each Escola
has several sections, one of which is the
Bateria (drummers).
The term School of Samba cannot really be
applied to many of the UK groups,
they are better defined as Blocs or Blocos,
meaning groups. A Samba Bloco
will often consist of the Bateria
alone. In addition to playing Batucadas
from Rio, we play other samba rhythms from
Brasil such as Maracatu, Samba
Reggae and Afoxe.
Bloco Do Sul have been in existance for
12 years. We are based in Dorking,
Surrey in the UK and have played many gigs in
and around the county.
Recently we have been lucky enough to have
been accompanied by a modern &
contempary dance group named HYPE, "Happy
Young People Entertaining".
The percussion instruments played consist
of:
Surdo
Long bass drums ranging from 14" to 24" in diameter.
Caxia
Shallow snare drum.
Repenique
Small deep drum with no snare. Played with one hand
and
one stick.
Tamborim
6" hand held shallow drum.
Timba
A conical hand played drum.
Agogo
Twin, triple or quad bells.
Chocalho
Shaker.
Cuica
Latin talking drum.
Apito
Three tone whistle.
For more information, please
contact: