BATALA PORTSMOUTH

On the 25th August 2001 Southsea Samba  became Batala Portsmouth, part of the Mundo Batala Project run by Giba Goncalves and based in Paris. We play authentic samba-reggae (as popularised by Olodum) from Salvador Bahia the musical and cultural heart of Brasil. Since formation we have played nearly a hundred gigs as well as being involved in tuition projects both in schools and the wider community not only in Portsmouth and its surrounding area but also the length and breadth of Southern England.  Every year we play Notting Hill Carnival with other Batala’s from the UK and Europe. In addition many of our members travel abroad to join with other Batala groups playing large carnavals in Europe and also the Salvador Carnaval (the largest and certainly the loudest in the world), with Cortejo Afro an Afro-Bloco based in Salvador and also part of the Mundo Batala Project.

We are always interested in recruiting new members and although experience is helpful, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn is the most important thing. Many of our best players had never played drums before joining Batala. 

Batala are available for bookings, both performance and workshops across Hampshire and the surrounding areas. So if you are interested in joining or wish to book the band for an event please contact us.

Giba is the maestro of the Batala sound, which he composed after the style of his home town Salvador, in Brazil. The music has its roots in African traditional music which found its way to Brazil and has been incorporated in to Brazilian culture since.

The name ‘batala’ is a derivation of the French for "hit there", a modern pun. It is also connected to the supreme God of the Yoruba culture Obatala, along with Olodumare is one of the names of the supreme God in that culture. During the slave trade of the 1800s, the bata drum crossed the Atlantic and gradually became a popular playing instrument in America, Cuba and beyond.

The batuque is one of the dances of the slaves of Angola and the Congo in plantations, when they met on their day of rest. At that time the colonial authorities and later the church prohibited African slave festivals. However, culture cannot be completely repressed. There are several variants/derivations of the "batuque" including batacuda.

Using this influence, Giba formed a 60-piece drumming band, called it Batala, and encouraged anyone with an interest in his music to form their own Batala group under his name. There are now eight such groups across Europe playing the same funky rhythms. Samba-reggae compositions with noted African influences beaten out on four different types of drum. The result is a raw, hypnotic combination of emotion, beats and rhythm. Batala’s success is illustrated in its impressive CV: Glastonbury; the Notting Hill Festival; World Cup 1998 Grande Stade de France, to name but a few and more recently playing with the Suga Babes at the Royal Variety Performance in 2006.

Back in Europe Batala kept growing with the birth of new groups  at La Rochelle followed by Portsmouth in 2001. Later other groups formed in Bangor, Barmouth, Lancaster. In March 2005 Batala Liverpool was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, as the latest expansion of the Batala family in the UK, Brussels in Belgium, Nantes in France and finally Brasilia and Goiania in Brazil.

All of the bands meet up regularly for big events such as Notting Hill Carnival or a Batala Encontro where you can have in excess of 100 drummers and it has become like a large extended family all dedicated to having a good time.

Salvador has always been the cultural and musical heart of Brasil and its black population the largest outside of Lagos. But untill the late 40's the carnaval was strictly for the light skinned minority (10-15%), any attempt by blacks to participate was dealt with by the police with their usual savagery.

In 1949 two events happened that signalled the future, first Filhos de Ghandi (an Afoxe group who promoted peace through their association with Mahatma Ghandi) were allowed to perform in the carnaval, but later attempts to form Blacos Indios (in the style of New Orleans Indians) were supressed with vigor.

Secondly two musicians, Dodo & Osmar and a friend of thiers started experimenting with their home-built electric guitars and amplifiers mounted on a car. They became know as "Trio Electico" which these days are mighty juggernauts laden with massive PA Systems,bands and singers.