Bata’

I have finally settled into a small Samba band in Sydney – as I was feeling a lack of leisurely artistic involvement till now. Through this I was invited by my new friends Benny & Rana to practice ‘Bata’ drumming every monday night. We have been involved in these sessions the last three weeks and last night we had a visitor join us for some more intense and recorded fun!

I met Walter through my old Perth samba band – Beleza. He is a great percussionist and a very influential example – there are a lot of people in that band I look up to. Lately he has travelled from WA to NSW and is continuing up the coast in about a week. 

I was inspired to write about this because I have fallen in love with samba and percussion over the last 18 months. To play percussion with a wealth of people is a bond and a feeling that is so different from that of playing my bass guitar/viola. It becomes a trance.

You must close your eyes and your mind and just experience the natural phenomenon of that which is your subconscious controlling your hands. It is almost magical when you are slapping on a hide so fast you don’t know what you are doing anymore. It is something I relate to dance in that – the physical energy and the soul you put into it is so surreal and so uncontrollable.