atala is an international music group that plays a style of Samba, called samba reggae Drim Music which originates in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. It is perhaps surprising (or not) that Salvador, despite having the
largest black population outside of Africa, it was not until 1974 that a
black group was allowed to play at the Salvador Carnaval. The seminal
Afro-Bloco Ilê Aiyê gatecrashed the Salvador Carnaval, they were not
invited, they just joined in. Unlike previous attempts they were not
savagely beaten by the police and Salvador carnaval would never be the
same again. Soon after reggae with its message of black redemption and
solidarity became popular in Bahia and in 1981, Neguinho do Samba Ilê
Aiyê's musical director left to work the offbeat rhythms of reggae in to
samba with his new group Olodum. This and the presence of Jimmy Cliff
who was living and working in Salvador for several years in the early
80s were the catalyst for the samba reggae sound.  Batala was started in Paris in 1997 by Giba Goncalves, a Bahian percussionist (Ilê Aiyê, Olodum, Muzenza, Male Debale, Jimmy Cliff, Tupi Nago and Kaoma) studying , Composition and Bass Guitar, at the Paris Conservatoire and resident in Paris. At the same time his long time friend Alberto Pitta (ex artistic director of Olodum) started his own educational project Instituto Oya de Arte e Educacao with activities including Afro Bloco Cortejo Afro , a dance school, printing, textile design, fashion design and capoeira. Cortejo Afro are now one of the rising stars of the Bahian scene. Cortejo Afro and Batala are symbiotic sharing much of the same repertoire and members of Batala, have since 1999, performed every year at the Salvador Carnaval as part of Cortejo Afro. By 2001 there was a band in La Rochelle and also one in Portsmouth, the first outside of France and the following year Batala performed at Notting Hill Carnival (with 35 drummers) for the first time. From the Portsmouth band, people left and formed new Batalas in Brasil (Brasilia), France (Massif) Spain (Badajoz) and Wales (Bangor and Bermo) with the Bangor band spawning further groups in Liverpool and Lancaster. In addition to a new band in Nantes there were also bands set up in Portugal, Belgium,(Brussels) Austria (Vienna), USA (Washington DC) Angola , South Africa (Johannesburg) and Guadeloupe (Batala Gwada), Netherlands (Batala Netherlands) for a grand total of 18 bands in 12 countries and on 3 continents. More you can know in Wikipedia: MUNDO BATALA |