Cartagena, Colombia!
Early January 2017 and we were performing Orchestra of Samples in Colombia, in the beautiful South American tropical coastal city of Cartagena for a special event organised by the Lux Festival. The event was held…
Latin America
Bogotá, Colombia!
We were asked to perform Orchestra of Samples in Colombia’s coastal city of Cartagena in early January 2017 and having known a number of very talented Colombians in the UK and France, the huge South American country was…
A few dates in Brazil…
Ola folks! We’ve just taken Orchestra of Samples to Brazil, playing in Belo Horizonte as the first international artists to perform at the wonderful arts venue Cento Quarto, as part of a Brazilian mini-tour where we also played at La Paz club…
Powerful female voices
While in Brasilia we met up with artist, poet and all round wonder woman Marina Mara who organised a recording session with her Amazon goddess friend Andréa dos Santos (above).
Recycling junk for music!
During our time in Brazil for the amazing Celebrar Brasilia event we were playing at, we hooked up for a recording session with the incredible “eco-band” Patubatê (pronounced Patoo-bat-ay). For over 12 years now, the guys have been transforming and recycling all manner of old junk and scrap metal into musical instruments, from kitchen pots and pans to car exhaust pipes and truck suspension springs, all in a kind of re-cycling Stomp Brazilian style!
Brazilian samba!
We’re back in Brazil for the second time this year! Our first night in the country and only a few hours after landing we headed out to Casa São Jorge (‘House of St George’) one of the most popular Samba bars in the nearby city of Campinas, where sweaty dancers were tearing up the dancefloor and the band were giving it large.
A park in Brazil…
In July we were in Paulinia, in Brazil – often jokingly referred to as “Paulywood” as it’s a real hub for film studios and the Brazilian movie industry. We were in Brazil performing at the city’s Fest2011 event and while there, the festival organisers…
Mariachis & Mexican songs
Still in Mexico and we did an interview for Indie Rocks Magazine with editor Luis Alberto González who kindly took the time to introduce us to Leika Mochán, Dora Juárez and Sandra Cuevas aka Muna Zul. The acapella trio simply blew us away with their beautiful harmony singing, making the hairs on the back of our neck stand up! Queens of improvisation, they mix genres from folk, jazz and bossa nova to local styles like susurros, cacareos, aullidos and chasquidos.
We’re in Mexico!
While in Mexico to perform at the huge Sonorama Festival in the incredible Azteca Stadium, we were introduced to Humberto Alvarez, formally from the well known Mexican band Sangre Asteka. These days Humberto is an expert in pre-Hispanic music, which we recorded him playing – from Aztec whistles and drums to playing a virtually Neolithic ‘stone xylophone’, which he feels would have been one of the first instruments humans likely invented