Bloco Fogo is a community samba band based in Tonbridge Wells, Kent
and has now spread into Maidstone as the band has grown. Every Tuesday the band
members gather in the Tonbridge Wells forum for rehearsals and then on
Wednesday in the Maidstone, Trinity theatre. All together there is around 80
members and on average at a gig you would see and hear around 25-30 drummers.
Bloco Fogo means ‘band of fire’ and their costumes represent their name well
with red tunics and bright yellow trousers. The band is for all ages and
genders with a large variety of drums to choose from and learn.
Bloco Fogo is made of a large variety of ages as in a community band
anyone and everyone is able to join and play, and no need for past experience
in music as joining Bloco Fogo is a chance to find your rhythm even though you
are thrown in the deep end you are still able to catch up and learn each song.
The band has played in many places over the UK including Ireland and
Wales also different countries such as Germany, Holland and Jordan, mostly for
parades and carnivals. The parade in which they have played every year for the
past 5 years is the Coburg Samba Festival in Germany, and each year it has been
the highlight. This shows joining the band and paying subs each month is worth
it as these trips are paid for by the band. Also it is a great opportunity to
meet and party with new people from all round the world as well as meeting new
people in Bloco Fogo.
When you ask any regular person "what is Samba?" they would often think of the Brazilian dance however it is also a style of drumming. Samba drumming also originated from Brazil and was passed over seas from the Portuguese slaves taking their music with them as they were transported from place to place and with that, capoeira which is Brazilian martial arts containing elements of dance descended from African slaves with Brazilian natives, you would often see this involved in the samba parades as it originates in the same era and country.
Samba first came to England from the London School of Samba.
Global Parades
There are samba bands all over the world also many samba parades.
The worlds biggest samba festival is of course the Rio Carnival held in Rio De
Janeiro every year. It contains over 2 million people per day on the streets of
Rio including samba dancers, drummers and hundreds of impressive floats.
The 2nd
largest is the Coburg Samba festival in Germany which is named “the capital of
samba in Europe.” This festival is a chance for the European samba bands to
parade around a different country and meet thousands of new people with over
100 samba bands however no floats as the bands are transported over therefore
taking the floats with them would be difficult.
Some of the basic
instruments used
Underlying the rhythm of samba is a large bass drum called a Surdo
that keeps an even beat often counting the 4 beats in the bar. There can be 2
or 3 surdos tuned to different pitches having 1 pitch to create a melody.
The repinique is a high tone drum around 12x4 inches, which can be
played with plastic sticks or 1 wooden stick. This is the loudest high pitch
drum cutting through the other sounds in the bateria (samba band). The nylon
skins are tightened using rods.
A caixa is the same as a snare drum found in a regular drum kit. It is
a lighter drum with several wires strapped to the bas making a short rattle
from the vibration each time it is hit.
Agogo bells are also known as cowbells used in samba percussion. It
is probably the oldest samba instrument. It is the highest pitched instrument
in the bateria.
Modernized Samba
Samba has grown with time and become more modern and well known such
as used in films and mixed with up to date music. A recent Pixar animation film
called Rio which was released in 2011 has a very strong influence from Samba as
it is based around the Rio Carnival and contains a fantastic Samba filled
soundtrack also mixed with the styles of Will.I.Am, Jamie Fox and Taio Cruz.
A samba band from Singapore called Wicked Aura have mixed samba with
different styles including heavy rock and some R&B. This shows the variety in which samba is used also exposing people to samba without them realising. They have also been invited to the Coburg Samba festival 2012 for the first time. They are extremely unique as you rarely hear the mix of samba and a different genre of music, also with real English lyrics like the ones found in common music and not often in Samba.
