Sreet Painting Team meets BATALA
BATALA
are an international music band playing samba reggae rhythms, from Bahia's Salvador, in northeastern Brazil.
The
band's founder is Giba Goncalves, a percussionist from Bahia, who started
Batala in 1997 in Paris, where he lived and studied Composition and Bass at the
Paris Conservatory. From Paris BATALA has spread to other cities of
France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, Africa, Australia, USA, etc..
In
2010 a new Batala band was created in Athens, bringing the rhythms of samba
reggae to Greece.We
met with the Batala Atenas Maestro, Stavro Kontarato (STAVRO PARCEIRO) and
talked about all this effort.
What has
been the people’s involvement in the band since 2010 when the band was formed
in Greece?
The team
started with 15 people in Athens and was
the first team in Greece. Lot’s of people followed, and by now, 2019 have
exceeded 700-800 people. Some stay, others don't. The point is what
everyone is looking for to stay.
The
team is always open in Athens, anytime for anyone who wants to meet us or visit
our place. Twice a year we create a new
class, that is an open free call for people to try,and when 40-50 people
gather, a new beginners class starts. In Greece we now have BATALA Salonica and
BATALA Creta, and soon a new Batala Chios team is launching.
Do these
bands operate autonomously or should they always be in partnership with a central
BATALA band?
Each band is autonomous and self-sustaining, and finds a way to act according to the place and environment in which it operates.
Like in Brazil,the bands have a maestro who makes the music and is
basically the teacher.
Our Maestro is Brazilian, we have the colors of
the band, its designs and we play the same music As a band of different
countries we share the same character, the same style of music and the same
equipment. In Greece we now have about 20 different bands.
How is Batala Atenas funded?
Batala Atenas is a non-profit organization.The
groups are big and the obligations a lot. The only source of income are our
live events,and is the only way to buy our equipment and our uniforms. In fact
no one gets paid. We do not have a team that has the expertise to seek support
and sponsorship eg. from the Ministry of Culture, which could be a very good
option.
Are there
any criteria on the events BATALA participates?
There is the informal rule that we do not take any political position.In our live events we have our own terms and regulations and our first concern is to provide food, drink, good transportation for our group. The team comes always first. Nobody gets paid, is something voluntary. You cannot obligate anyone to participate on something that he or she dont agree. I for example, because it is part of my job to design I've reached the point of designing worldwide designs for the uniforms, the organs and everything visual, without any financial gain.
Watching
and listening to Batala as a spectator, I felt awe, do you receive this from
the audience?
Yes we get it too. This is music made by the people, by poor people who, having no access to bars and clubs, would carry objects that were useless, for example a car bonnet, a tube and made their own music. Creating such a band out of nothing, the whole neighborhood would come out and party.The rythm is based on the african culture and for hundred of years make people dance. This rhythm will either wake you up or make leave because of tension. Most of the reaction is dance and laughs and we all wake up.
The
band is 50% music and 50% choreography. The rhythm and the choreography is
something structured and complete and tells a whole story. On
the other hand, movement is also a metronome and gives momentum, man himself
becomes music, he does not just play the instrument.
The ultimate purpose of the band;
Also
travels make us better people, you have to go outside and listen to what's
going on around you, outside of Greek society, learn other ways of thinking and
looking at the light!
The purpose is to share, to interact with the world. It's
very difficult to share now, people close the doors, close the windows and it's
over, so is the system. When a
person "opening up" will actually start to bring out the good stuff
and make him feel better, grow, is the best thing for me.
Following Batala's participation in Europe's biggest carnival in Notting Hill in August and current year's band station such as Day of the Dead in Mexico and more, we have the 7th recording of the band's Batala home in Brazil which is done every 2 years. We record our music, there is no company behind us that will do the distribution. The point is, first of all, to have the band's material ourselves.
Finally we
buy all the band's equipment and instruments from Brazil and they are all
handmade by people in the neighborhood. When we go to Brazil we have the
pleasure of getting to know all these people up close. This may be something of
a hobby to us, but for them , it is their culture.
Today,
Batala has more than 1,500 (constantly growing) percussions worldwide and a
total of 46 bands in 15countries and 3 continents, bringing
authentic Bahia music and culture to the general public.
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