Pure Samba! The next samba drumming course will commence Tuesday 21st September in Glasgow. Come and learn the rhythms and songs of Rio samba and other Brazilian styles. Experience is an advantage but not a requirement. Tutor Roddy Dickson (SambaYaBamba)

 Registration essential contact Roddy on roddy_dickson@hotmail.com or 07861 293 819

This year saw a lifelong ambition of the band fulfilled with a glorious weekend performing in the Hebridean metropolis of Stornoway at the 2009 Homecoming Hebridean Tattoo. The weather and the people treated us well as we got kilted up and did our bit alongside the many pipe bands from the islands and even Canada in the grounds of the imposing Lews castle. The following day we paraded through the streets balanced precariously on the back of an artic with the crowds smiling and throwing coins... which is apparently a good thing up there!! The black pudding was flowing, seals obligingly played in the harbour, the standing stones at Callenish sparkled in the sunlight and Uig Sands, the biggest beach any of us had ever seen, exposed it's full golden expanse out to the Atlantic. Half the band then went home the long way, through all the islands down to Barra and then to Oban. SambaYaBamba is obsessed with islands as it is but this was certainly a wonderful experience and we dearly hope to be invited back next year.

Half the Summer may be gone but there is still very much half left! SambaYaBamba will be at Eden Festival (4th-6th Sep) in the Forest of Ae in Dumfries and Galloway. A new venture by the crew who were behind the Eden tent formerly at the Wickerman, looks like a nice little well run and friendly festival that will be here to stay. Also look out for SYB's evil cousins, Glaswegian dub reggae extravaganza; Captain Slackship's Mezzanine Allstars. And we're pleased to say Knockengorroch: The Hairth (16th - 20th Sep) at Knockengorroch Farm. A little further afield, we're very excited to announce that we will also be playing at the Homecoming Hebridean Tattoo in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis on the weekend of the 8th of August.

This July SambaYaBamba represented Glasgow and Scotland for the 5th time in the biggest Samba event outside Brazil, Coburg International Samba Festival in darkest Germany.

After being tormented and not-so-politely robbed by Satan's very own Ryanair we'd got somewhere in Germany, 6 hours away from our destfination in fact. However as always the Autobhan pagode session and the random hollering of 'Phoenix City' made it seem like fünf minuten. We arrived in the early hours and received a glorious welcome at the Hungry Highlander pub - our second home for the weekend.

The Friday weather was changable. The traditional meet and greet pagode at the Turnerschaft then we opened the main stage in the Marktplatz in light rain to a sea of umbrellas. Everyone went to see Houba-Samba's opening gig on Albertzplatz which for me remained the gig of the festival, then the french feast continued with Muleketu on Marktplatz and the official evening ended with Aquarela on Schlossplatz. Needless to say the party went on a little longer at the highlander with Walter from Bloco X leading a roasting hot bateria in the street. When the Police could tolorate no more, Houba continued indoors till god knows when.

Saturday we had 3 gigs on 3 different stages punctuated by big sausages in wee rolls and frothing tankards of beer. The punters certainly took our kilts in their stride, not quite so the french ladies, or so i'm told. By this point the meaningless phrase 'Phoneix Ciiity' had really taken hold and the band took great delight in convincing the compare to announce us as such. It was a pretty gruelling schedule playing not only our own gigs but joining both Muleketu and Bloco X/Suco Legal bods whenever possible and trying to squeeze in gigs from LSS, A Bunda and Swiss maniacs - Quastenflosser dressed as along the lines of robocop. One of the highlights of Saturday was Tarragona's Samba da Praca on the Marktplatz with their wonderful singing and generally brilliant show. Saturday night SYB rocked the back court of the Highlander with what felt like every ritmista in Europe in attendance. Aquarela and LSS led a mammoth and amazing pagode session in to the early morning.

Sunday, SYB were excused from the parade to play on the Albertsplatz stage. Samba City Coburg congested to a halt as the throngs strained to see the parade of 100+ bands and dancers. You would swear it was carnaval in Bahia if it wasn't for the occasional Bavarian remindeg glimpse of big tashes and belted gents shorts. After the parade, Highlander John made us one of his famous curry pots and half of Coburg settled into the usual caiperinha party with the wee band blasting the brazilian equivalent of my old man's a dustman and donald where's yer troosers till the cachaça ran out. Meanwhile the german efficiency made short work of dismantling the 9 or so stages and attachments that had covered the city for the last 3 days, ready for the next festival.

Coburg has one of the finest swimming pools in the world. If Carlsberg made swimming pools... it wouldn't be anywhere near as good as this one! It's outdoor, sunny (always), with grass, loungers, spashy bits, volleyball nets, flumes, diving boards and ice cold german bier! Monday was spent firmly dug in there. Yet another successful festival, no wonder it's the highlight of the samba year!

click here for more videos of SYB at Coburg

Needless to say the 4th Scottish Samba Showcase was a resounding success with monumental performances from Edinburgh Samba School, Muleketú and hosts SambaYaBamba. Photography by Becky Duncan - beckyduncanphotography.com 

 

SambaYaBamba

After a huge mess in the run up the West End Festival has passed back to the community. This year's parade will take place in leafy Kelvin Way and Kelvingrove Park and promises to be better than ever (weather permitting). As usual SambaYaBamba will be playing host to some wonderful guests. This year's highlight is Paris's Muleketu, Almost certainly THE best samba-reggae outfit outside of Salvador and winner of the 2009 Concours de Paris beating off competition from big name multiple winners Aquarela and Sambatuc. In it's 4th year now, the Scottish Samba Showcase will be in full swing the night before the parade with a triple bill of Muleketu, SambaYaBamba and Edinburgh Samba School. Muleketu are a must see item on this their first uk appearance, with their unique Baiano coreography and drum flailing acrobatics. QM Union, Sat 13th June 9pm-2am Tix £7adv/£9door tickets-scotland.com. 

2008 was a great year for the band with fantastic shows from Departure Lounge in Edinburgh to Knockengorroch in the deep south and HydroConnect on the west coast to Perth and Aberdeen in the north. Not forgetting of course the amazing West End Festival and Stereo gigs right here in Glasgow. The Euro-Odyssey was a flying success with Glasgow's bateria playing in excess of 12 gigs in 12 days across France Italy and Germany. 

We've played host to Verde Vai from London, Houba Samba from Montauban and both Barulho and Carnival Collective from Brighton. We've been lucky enough have expert tuition in samba-jungle from Pat Power and in Afro-Samba from mestre Marivaldo of the world famous afro bloco - Ilê Aiyê. 

9 members of SYB have had the opportunity to practice and play with the German based pan-european bateria, 'Bloco X' making Scotland one of the most strongly represented nations. Roddy, (our musical director) is just back from Rio and playing with the Samba School, Academicos da Rocinha and Monobloco for a less traditional take on Rio samba. 

This year looks just as promising with Brighton confirmed for April and an array of very tempting offers from Europe.