What Beatndrum did on their Summer Holidays
17/12/10
What Beatndrum did on their summer holidays.
By Matt Vernon
The post carnival summer months are always a busy time for the hard working volunteers of Beatndrum and this summer was no different!
The first big event was The Drogheda Samba festival 26/6/10 (technically in June but worth a mention!). For the first time in 4 years Beatndrum returned to Drogheda to unleash the beats on a very lively crowd in the festival club on the Saturday night of the festival. The venue was very cosy and packed with lots of over excited dancers, by the time we were done the place felt like a sauna!
The following day several band members, who study Maracatu with the Beat, performed with the newly founded Maracatu Ilha Brilho. The all Ireland Maracatu band took part in the parade playing a selection of their material in preparation for a stage performance later that afternoon. The band had been formed two months earlier with the vision of performing at the 4th European Maracatu Encontro in Paris. This gig in Drogheda was the first opportunity to test the material on the public. The 20 strong band took to the stage late in the afternoon with a large crowd of spectators already assembled. We opened with the very relaxed and pleasant Moro omin ma, before charging straight into the aural assault of our entrance piece. We played for a good 45 minutes playing the several songs in our repertoire and had a rousing encore as a finale, the crowd were absolutely buzzing when we were done.
Two weekends later at the start of July and the Maracatu Ilha Brilho members find themselves heading to Paris for the 4th European Maracatu Encontro
After two weeks of official Holiday (two weeks of not rehearsing from the perspective of the dedicated volunteers!), Beatndrum found themselves performing at one of Northern Irelands most interesting and upcoming rock festivals, Glasgowbury (24/7/10). We played a small gig at the Beat Carnival tent where we attracted a large number of party people to our posse then led them all out into the main arena where we held court in a big mad dancing party!
The day after our performance at Glasgowbury, members of Maracatu Ilha Brilho were in action again, this time at The Festival of World Cultures (25/7/10) in Dun Laoghaire.
The following weekend is one of the bands favourite weekends of the year as it was the weekend of the Jigs and Rigs festival (30-31/7/10) on Rathlin Island. A large group of experienced Beatndrummers took to the stage on the Saturday afternoon and quickly drew in a good crowd of dancers. We seem to be a highlight of this festival for a lot of people so we aim to please! Entering the stage while playing along with the D.J who was playing the Prodigy we established a positive force and blew their hats off! After the gig our friends in the Jahm Band (who run the festival) asked a few of us to perform with them in one of their final numbers, in their headline slot. It worked a treat and the crowd’s response was fantastic!
The next weekend saw two gigs one in Portstewart (7/8/10) and one in Portrush (8/8/10). A small crack team of Beatndrummers had tremendous fun performing in the towns respective band stands playing to a surprisingly large audience on both nights. There was lots of crowd participation, involving a big conga line and some out there dancing!
The weekend of the 22/8/10 saw Maracatu Ilha Brilho in action again, this time at The Big Bang Festival of Rhythm in Dublin. We enjoyed another chance to get together and perform a selection of the shared material in a short parade and stage performance, as well as take part in the finale performance with over 100 drummers.
The following weekend several members of Beatndrum and friends from Ilha Brilho found themselves in London at the Notting Hill Carnival (29-30/8/10). We were invited to play with Maracatu Estrela do Norte in their parade section. We arrived early on the Saturday and went straight to a rehearsal with the massed band that included members of several bands from around the U.K as well as some international visitors from France and Canada. We had a 2 hour practice where we learned the set that we would play in the parade. The following day saw the band rising at 8:30 to travel to the parade line-up. We started at 12:00 and paraded until 18:30. We had a short rest then got changed into our fancy dress and headed back out onto the streets to perform with the Vaca Louca, a highlight of Carnival when involved with this group. It follows the Brazilian carnival tradition involving dancing, music, pageantry involving a mad cow and game playing with unsuspecting bystanders. Tired and exhausted we headed home at the respectable time of 2 am.
Another highlight of the summer season happened the following weekend in Laois at The Electric Picnic festival (3-5/9/10). This is one of Irelands largest and probably most exclusive festivals. We put together a talented mix of beatndrummers along with some puppeteers and performers to create a fantastic spectacle. We performed on the Saturday and Sunday dressed as the party sambanimals! It was one of the most fun performances the band has ever done involving acrobatics, theatre and percussion.
Finally to finish the summer season off Beatndrum performed at Culture Night Belfast (24/9/10). Early on in the evening, members of Beatndrum helped to facilitate an open workshop in Maracatu and samba reggae drumming. Later Beatndrum took to the stage as the final act of the evening on the main stage. It was a great night with another fantastic performance from Beatndrum who had the whole crowd jumping about the place enjoying themselves.
And so ends a fairly busy summer of percussion fun for Beatndrum!
Other Recent News...
20/07/11 - Heading towards 24 July event
15/06/11 - Mask/Puppet Construction Workshops 18 & 25 June
26/05/11 - Join the Brazilian Party: Saturday 18th June
26/05/11 - Life Is A Carnival! Event on 24th July