We *love* the new costume Simone, one of our samba dancers is wearing here - and what’s more, really getting into the carnival spirit, the Brazilian-born dancer made it herself! (giving our head costumier ‘carnivalesca’ Maeve a little less work to do ;))
Longstanding Samba School dancer Lyna (as seen on the huuge billboards around Liverpool Lime St station) is also making her own outfit, can’t wait to see that one too. Bring on the colour and sparkle! yay!

Photo courtesy of Craig Bennett. (Click on image for a larger version)

An excerpt from the No.1 club hit ‘Round and Round’, with Natasha Hamilton and Liverpool Samba School. Produced by Mike Cockayne for Integral Productions.
from youtube.com posted with vodpod

With the carnival but a few months away, official ‘Carnavalesca’ Maeve and her troupe of costumier volunteers have been hard at work preparing costumes, so I thought I’d give our blog readers a sneak preview of how they are shaping up…

One of the themes for the costumes ties in with one of the other highlights of 2008 Capital of Culture Year - the  Klimt restrospective being held at Tate Liverpool. This prestigious exhibition, running from 30th May to the 31st August,  is the most extensive of its kind ever held in the UK,  so eagerly awaited by art lovers that late opening hours have been arranged to accommodate the demand for tickets.

One of Gustav Klimt’s most iconic works - ‘The Kiss’, created during his ‘Golden Phase’, will be shown in Liverpool for the first time during this exhibition. As an homage to this elegant work, Maeve captured some  ’dazzling, decorative’ style  in the luxurious capes being created for some of the carnival ‘destaques’, sharing the same spirit of shimmering excess.  

John Galliano had the same idea when creating his Dior Spring Summer 2008 collection, taking influence from Klimt’s highly  intricate detail and rich colour palette… Ahh. Liverpool Samba School, we are so Haute Couture  

If you are a fashion student, crafty with a needle or a glue gun and want to show off your costume creating flair, there is still an opportunity for you to become involved - get in touch via this site. 

…with her new single, so the Atomic Kitten star celebrated with a party at her bar ‘H’ in Victoria St, and added some Brasilian flavour with our samba band, including singing along with us playing (very lightly!) over her backing track.

Some photos of the night in a slideshow here  Photos and video by Soraya Lemsatef.

from www.flickr.com posted with vodpod

We performed inside the VIP party and also surprised delighted fans on the street outside … Natasha sang live too, so kudos to her. We were being filmed for a documentary or something, so more news on that as I get it… Fun night of playing and dancing the noite away afterwards with a well earned caipirinha! Parabéns on the number 1 single Natasha!

We are sooo happy that samba schools from all over the country are coming forward to be part of the Liverpool Capital of Culture Carnival on August 2nd this year - its going to be a feathery extravaganza to remember! Samba bands confirmed so far include:

• MaSamba from Dublin
• Suffolk School of Samba
• Paraíso, London
• Manchester School of Samba
• Oxiris, Wirral
• Republic of Swing

With many more expressing interest at joining up- More news on that at a later date.
Please see the list on the right hand column for links to all the groups’ websites.

If you are in a samba band or a community group (you don’t have to have any percussion experience) and you fancy parading with us - get in touch via email or this site.

London samba school Paraíso confimed that they will be bringing a costumed contingent of happy drummers and dancers to the Capital of Culture this year for the Liverpool Samba School-hosted carnival spectacular.

Bateria

Photo by Edgley Cesar.

Crowd pleasers at Notting Hill carnival, Paraíso will be bringing some award-winning sambistas to join the ever-growing line up for Liverpool’s evening carnival on Saturday 2nd of August 2008.
Don’t forget, you can be involved too! Whether you would prefer to be behind the scenes or right up there in the excitement of the parade, get in touch with us via email (rogerconga at aol dot com) or leave a comment on this site.
If you are in London and are interested in samba, contact Henrique via the Paraíso site - who knows, we may see you sambaing with us in Liverpool!

“We are going to knock people’s socks off! … Whether you are a seamstress, a carpenter, a dancer, a musician, all types of skills are needed!”  [Roger Morris]

Lyna and Simone were freezing their feathers off at the Bluecoat - but hey all for a good cause - a short performance on BBC News Northwest Tonight!

Samba school mestre Roger Morris made a the call for the people of Merseyside to offer their time and talents in return for a part in the most exciting community focused event of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year 2008.

Video is also available to view on the BBC site

from www.vimeo.com posted with vodpod

To enable the event to be the highlight of the people’s Capital of Culture year - anyone who is interested may come forward to become involved in any capacity… Here are a few ideas of how you can get involved: 

Good with your hands?

You could get involved with the float making - carpentry, painting, papier maché, making structures and armatures for ‘gigants’ or ‘destaques’…

Handy with a glue gun or a sewing machine?

Then Maeve needs you to help finish the amazing costumes for all the participants - whether sticking on sequins or doing some sewing and precise work, there’s something to help with!

Enjoy the idea of the parade but don’t want to get dressed up?

We also need stewards, people to hand out water to thirsty drummers and dancers…

Fancy yourself as a dancer or drummer?

Come along to one of our rehearsals and have a chat , see what we do and best of all - have a go!

If you have any idea of a way you could help or just enthusiastic to pitch in, let us know and we can find ways for you to be involved.

This is your Carnival- help us make sure its an amazing day for all, something Liverpool can be really proud of! Call Roger and Maeve on 0151 734 1110 or email rogerconga @ aol . com (remove the spaces to email) Or leave a comment on this blog

Até já! Obrigada!

Liverpool Samba School is hosting an event for the people of Liverpool - a Brasilian Samba Carnival for the Capital of Culture year.

The Rio-style carnival promises to be an truly exciting evening event, with irresistible rhythms, extravagant costumes and floats. In true Brasilian Samba style there is guaranteed to be plenty of glitz and glamour - but also as in Rio EVERYONE is invited to join in the fun!

This element of ‘inclusion’ was one of the main driving forces behind Roger and Maeve Morris’ plan for ’something special’ during a year where Liverpool will be firmly in the centre of the cultural radar in Europe and further afield.

The samba school has been running in Liverpool for over 10 years, and powered by the local community, with over 800 spectacular events behind them, the husband and wife team Morris decided what Liverpool really needs is a huge Rio Style Carnival! With all the hype about being Capital of Culture it was considered important for the people of Liverpool to be directly involved in a huge event -something memorable, fun and for everyone - the model of the Brasilian ‘Carnaval’ was seen as perfect for this.

In 2003, the Liverpool Samba School visited Mangueira Samba School situated in the centre of a favela on the hills of Rio de Janeiro. Although an impoverished area, we were so amazed by the activity all year round, with the whole community’s involvement in preparation for Carnival and the carnival competitions - rehearsals, costume making, float creation, and performance - singing, drumming, dancing and more.

As we learned, in Brasil, Carnival is one of the main eagerly awaited events of the year - importantly Carnival is not reserved just for the the young or the well-heeled - Carnival is a more like a state of mind where everyone is encouraged to forget their day-to-day troubles and enjoy life to the full.

During the lead up and the 3 days of Carnival time, there are street parties on every corner in Rio, with music, costume (and as we found - er foam!) What was really lovely to see however, which is sadly often missing over here - is that the whole of the community was out having fun. From children to grandparents and everyone in between, people were dancing in the streets and joining in impromptu music sessions.

Many people participate in their Samba School’s parade in the Sambodrome ( a large purpose-built samba parade stadium) for the official ‘Carnaval’ competition, part of a theme which is chosen by the school each year, with an accompanying ‘enredo’ (song.) Either as a passista, (dancer) part of a destaque (display), or a member of the percussion group ‘bateria’ there is a lot of preparation and rehearsal involved which brings the community together in the samba school buildings. The young and the beautiful are often chosen for the Rei e Rainha (King and Queen) to dance and inspire the drummers, but there are important roles for everyone in the parade performance, from the Tia Bahiana swirling in their full skirts, to floats of senior citizens waving their arms to the music - everyone does thier bit to ensure the parade is the most spectacular energising experience anyone has ever seen - the ‘greatest show on earth’

Whether folk can get tickets to the sambadrome to see the big spectacle with the cheering crowds, or party with their own local bloco (small samba bands) everyone has a samba school they support, in a similar way to football (futebol) teams - and they are supported just as feverishly! Watching the results on TV for the hot competition being very harshly judged in the Carnival competition was just as nail-biting as any cup final I have ever watched. Indeed when you ask a Brasilian which school they favour, they may reply that they are Manguiera or Mocidade or Beija-Flor… they don’t just support them - they ARE them

The planning preparation and performance, and the resultant spectacle of the Carnival parades, involves everyone. Whether in the high profile sambodromo where Samba Schools such as Manguiera compete in the ‘Grupo Especial’ competition or the smaller samba schools and groups, music costume and dancing unite everyone in the same spirit, and just for a few special days, differences in social and economic circumstances do not stop anyone catching the carnival spirit.

In this spirit, we want Liverpool to capture some carnival magic during the Carnival being held on AUGUST 2nd, 2008 in Liverpool City Centre. Everyone is invited to join in , whether behind the scenes in the run-up or in the parade itself. Whatever you can do, whatever skills or interests you have , come forward and get involved! We will be posting on this blog details of how the preparations are going.
We look forward to hearing from you!

Contact: Roger and Maeve Morris at
rogerconga @ aol .com (remove the spaces when you use the email address please)

or Liza Lemsatef at
lizinha @ mac .com

For more pics of our trip to Rio, see the slideshow here

 

Bluecoat29

Originally uploaded by at the Bluecoat..

Liverpool Samba School got the crowd going as they performed at the opening of the new world class gallery at the  Bluecoat. The opening weekend welcomed over 10,000 people.

http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk