West End Festival Parade is back, and we're celebrating!

Important update - the classes will now start on Tuesday 7th May. 

Have you ever wanted to learn samba drumming? Now you can with our bold leader Roddy Dickson.

Our popular beginners classes are back on Tuesday evenings, starting with Tuesday 7th May at 7.30pm. They'll be held at 53 Kilbirnie Street, Glasgow - just a few minutes from West Street subway station.

Cost is £6 for the first session and £25 for a 4 week block after that. Classes will run until the end of July, after which we will announce the start date for the next block.

Weve already got a growing waiting list - to get yourself on it and find out full workshop details email us at sambayabamba@gmail.com

Let us know if you've got any prior drumming experience. 

On Wednesday 6th February, we took travellers by surprise in Glasgow airport with a samba flashmob. This stunt was to kick off the 2013 Glasgow FIlm Festival, which has a Brazilian theme. 

If you like it, share the YouTube link, we want everyone to see this! We had so much fun flashmobbing, we are plotting where we can pop up next.

Find out more about the film festival here - we will also be performing as part of the Film Festival Carnival on Friday 15th Feburary.

Phew, what a night. Saturday 17th November 2012 will go down in history as the best birthday party ever....until we do it all again next year.

Thank you to each and every one of the 500+ friends who came to celebrate with us - including our special guest acts Banda 71, Brass Aye?, The Edinburgh Samba School and Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5. We hope you had as good a time as we did. 

Zul Bhatia took some incredible photos of the night, check them out on his Facebook page here and tag yourself if you're in them.

We're getting old. Old enough to marry, but not quite old enough to drink. Sweet 16... come and celebrate with us, and some other bands that aren't bad either.

Saturday 17th November, from 8pm

SWG3, 100 Eastvale Place, Glasgow 

We're celebrating 16 years of SYB with a massive party, and you're invited.

Featuring Banda 71, Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5, Brass, Aye?, DJ sets and of course SambaYaBamba. We want all our friends and fans to bring THEIR friends (and fans, if you have 'em), and get messy with us.

View more info and tell us you're coming on Facebook.

Tickets £5 on the door. We know, it's such a bargain you'll insist on paying more, but we simply can't take it. That's how much we love you.

Summer 2012 has been the busiest yet for SYB. With gigs almost weekly since April, we’ve played weddings, parades, clubs, rugby matches, festivals, races, balls and more. We’ve entertained crowds everywhere from Dunfermline to Germany, and of course had a belter of a time. Here are a few highlights:

Think Pink Charity Ball

We were delighted to be able to offer our services in support of Breast Cancer Care, a fantastic cause. And it’s always good to get people samba dancing in ball gowns – especially in such a spectacular venue as Mar Hall.

West End Festival Parade – SYB style

We weren’t about to let a little thing like the cancellation of the West End Festival parade stop us – we defiantly marched from the Botanic Gardens down Byres Road, and gathered quite a following on the way.  There was great public support for our renegade parade, and for a petition asking the council to reinstate the real parade next year. Here’s hoping it’ll be back in 2013.

O2 Glasgow Mela

We introduced our gorgeous dancers the Samba Rebelles, and played to a great crowd at the Commonwealth Stage. The best part of the day was an impromptu jam session and parade with Indian street band the Jaipur KAWA brass band.

Kelburn Garden Party

We always love going to Kelburn, and this year’s wee festival was better than ever. We heard some great acts, met fantastic people, played a stomping stage set, and undertook a perilous trek (whilst playing) through the forest. Can’t wait to be back in a few weeks for the Psychedelic Forest Carnival.

Coburg International Samba Festival

It had been a few years since SYB travelled to Germany for the samba festival, but we blew away the crowds in Coburg and are already looking forward to next year’s Festival. As ever, this idyllic German town became a mardi gras, and we partied as hard as we played. Big thanks to our “local” the Hungry Highlander and all the friends, new and old, from the best weekend of the summer.

The summer may be just about over, but we’re still busy! In September we’re looking forward to the Largs Viking Festival, the Psychedelic Forest Carnival, and also playing at the wedding of our very own Nikki Ellis. Click on the “Upcoming gigs” tab or visit our Facebook page to find out more and keep up with the band. 

So, this weekend sees SYB travelling south-west to the beautiful wee town of Largs. Four gigs in two days will see us playing in the Largs Live Parade on Saturday, playing a set in Lounge straight after it then an evening set at The 2012 Kelburn Garden Party followed by much dancing and frivolity, finishing up with another set at Kelburn on Sunday. We absolutely LOVE coming down to Ayrshire!

See http://largslive.com/ 

The fun begins at 12midday this Saturday at Morrissons car park in Largs, see you there!! 

Beat those winter blues by coming down to Boteco Do Brasil this Saturday for a wee shimmy and some sunny cocktails to celebrate the 2nd birthday of Glasgows very own Brazillian bar and restaurant. Bringing live music from SambaYaBamba and Mario Caribe and band with face painting and fire juggling thrown into the mix for good measure, it's a recipe for fun!

See you there folks.

http://www.botecodobrasil.com/boteco-live/birthday 

With great reluctance and deep regret, we've had to cancel the workshops due to start tomorrow evening (Wednesday 18th). We have been given notice to move out of our current rehearsal space and it has quickly become an environment completely unsuitable for classes, for various reasons. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. 

We are currently on the hunt for a new home (if you think you know of anywhere suitable please get in touch!) and hope to have something in place by early March, if not before. Watch this space!

SambaYaBamba will be heading to Buchanan street on Saturday morning to get you all into the festive spirit with some good old fashioned SAMBA! Follow your happy ears down and have a wee seasonal shoogle on us!