Our HistoryStarting Out The band was formed as part of the Guernsey Liberation Day Committee preparations in 1999 with Rob Tiplady and Mary Cordall being the founder members. Mary continues to provide musical input for the band and organises gigs. Gary Marsh, with support from Pippa Barrett, is the current musical director. Both Gary and Pippa have developed their understanding of percussion by attending intensive courses in the UK. With the support of the Liberation Committee, the Manchester School of Samba was invited to visit the island to perform and run some training workshops, led by Tony Watt. The band performed at the Millennium and the following Liberation Day celebrations and in Autumn 2001 the first evening class was run to recruit new members. Our name We are known as the Guernsey School of Samba but in 2005 decided to adopt the punchier "Samba Burros". "Burros" means donkey, a term used to illustrate the Guernsey people who are reputedly strong-willed and stubborn and are proud to call themselves donkeys. We use this name for our main performing band of approx. 35 players. We use "Samba Burritos" for a smaller band of 9-15 players, more suited to an indoor performance. Where we perform In addition to the above celebrations, we have played at school and church fetes, Floral Guernsey, the North Show, Vale Earth Fair, Youth Games, Town & Harbour Carnivals and Sark Carnival in our sister island. This makes a busy summer schedule of performances. In the winter, we play in the High Street for late opening Christmas shopping evenings - we were the joint Christmas busking winners in 2005! We also put out a smaller band for private functions. In 2003, we were asked to entertain the athletes in the North Beach car park before heading the parade of athletes along Guernsey's attractive sea front to a crowd of thousands. We had a real buzz. It was a fantastic day. We also played at the volunteers party at the end of the Games. 
9th May 2005 was the 60th celebration of Guernsey's liberation from occupying forces and we played our way along the sea front as part of the celebratory parade. What we play The band plays Latin American street rhythms, samba, samba reggae, hip hop and fusions of different cultures. We also play a 12/8 timing groove, which sounds quite different. We have instruments in all sizes and sounds including the triangle, tamborin, shaker, bells, timba, repinique, caixa and surdo drums. Our costumes We first wore our yellow T-shirts and harlequin trousers on Liberation Day 2003 and continued to wear them exclusively until 2005 when we decided to have an alternative image and adopted an all black outfit with fancy headgear and sparkly instruments, based on the colours of the Brazilian flag. Our first outing with the new costume was Liberation Day 2005. We changed again to coloured T-shirts (with flames design) based on the colours of the Brazilian flag in December 2006.  
Dancers We were recently joined by a few dancers whose moves and costumes certainly distracted the audience on their first outing with us on Liberation Day 2005! We are seeking more dancers and held a joint percussion and dance workshop in January 2006 with Ravin Jayasuriya and Professor Bocao, following which Helen Le Tocq, a local dance instructor, agreed to lead a group of enthusiastic dancers who practise regularly with the band. Bocao returned to Guernsey for Liberation Day 2006 and held a well supported open dance workshop on Guernsey's seafront and Ella Peck added to the dance spectacle in 2007. Off the rock A few of us decided to spread our wings in 2005 and participated in the Welsh Encontro in Cardiff. We had a fabulous time and came back inspired. Some of us have also gained experience in encontros in Hitchin and Guildford in 2007. Our ambitions We are keen to progress and, to achieve that, we bring people over from the UK to train us e.g. Ravin Jayasurija, Joe Hanson and Professor Bocao. We aim to increase our numbers (both players and dancers) and get Guernsey in the rhythm; maybe a Guernsey encontro one day. A couple of band members are trying out leading the band - not as easy as it looks! Members The band is made up of members young and young at heart and we all practise and play regularly as well as socialise! We hold occasional workshops/evening classes, for those who fancy having a go, to see if you like it. It's great fun!! Why not contact us if you would like to join us or perhaps even hire the band!
If you can tap your foot, you
can play Samba! Last edited by: Linda on 25th February 2008 |
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