Author Archives: barak
rotc @ belfast carnival 19 jun 2010
yes, sunny belfast, a place that has trouble(s) oft associated with the act of parading with drums, but not today. invited by the beat carnival initiative, we are given the task of bringing our brand of carnival-styled popular music to … Continue reading
rotc @ glasgow west end festival 12-13 jun 2010
following various successful tours to ireland, this was our first chance to hit scotland. the people of glasgow are not averse to enjoying themselves, we had heard, so sun-hats at the ready we hit the train for a packed weekend … Continue reading
rotc with pedro luís @ guanabara 26 may 2009
tonight rotc are guests of PLAP (pedro luís e a parede). these are the guys who started monobloco and it was but a few years ago that we invited the percussionists of the group (celso, C.A., mário and sidon) to … Continue reading
rotc cd review in songlines
it was surely for a niche market (if any market) that we embarked upon recording this CD documenting the developments in repertoire and arranging that was rotc’s journey in the last 5 years. with an aim to show all sides … Continue reading
rotc with friendly fires @ NME awards, brixton 25 feb 2009
our firey friends have invited us once more to perform with them, a special occasion it always is, and even more special as they are probably here to pick up an award. was it anything to do with us?…. first … Continue reading
rotc with mandinga arts @ arts council 2008
finally, an office job you would want. yes, we were taken to the arts council building in clerkenwell to educate the officers in carnival. a small band (jp flavio dave hammadi barak and jim) roamed the building playing conga for … Continue reading
rotc with mandinga arts @ thames festival 2007
alas, the gold lamé, harlequin, dick whittington, ivorean mask and polkadot pirate costumes have come and gone; now is the turn of the rainbow pyjamas with french-horn-quartet hat. it has been hard for charles of mandinga to outdo himself, but we … Continue reading
rotc with mandinga arts @ thames festival 2006
we are back once again with mandinga @ thames festival, inspired by a well managed night carnival to try out more ambitious repertoire. adrian evans, festival boss, doesn’t really like samba, which is part of the reason that we developed … Continue reading
rotc with mandinga arts @ sadler’s wells brazilian carnival 22 jul 2006
rhythms of the city lives at city university (geddit?) and sadler’s wells is on our doorstep, we could walk the instruments to the gig, a shorter distance than the actual parade was – leaving the newly rebuilt sadler’s wells along … Continue reading
rotc + jamie cullum @ tower of london 13 july 2006
should a samba group have approached the tower of london in its fully operational heyday, there may have been a number of outcomes. ending up in the moat being preferable to some others. this night we played the moat. it … Continue reading