Batala NYC

BatalaNYC is an all-women percussion band. They are part of a bigger Global Arts project of the name Batala. They play rhythms from the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil which has rich roots in West African rhythms. BatalaNYC is one of over thirty Batala bands in the world and is lead by Stacy Kovacs. BatalaNYC play the surdo drum of Brazil. The surdo is a large bass drum used in many kinds of Brazilian music, such as axé, samba-reggae, maracatu, and samba, where it plays the lower range in the percussion section. These drums are the foundation of a Brazilian percussion line known as a bateria. Surdos are worn from a waist belt or shoulder strap, oriented with the heads roughly horizontal and the bottom head is not played. The surdo was invented by Alce- bíades Barcelos in Rio de Janeiro and was first used in Rio carnival in 1928, in the parade of the first-ever samba school, Deixa Falar. This first surdo was made from a 20kg wooden butter barrel with the top and bottom removed and replaced by hide skins. Prior to its introduction of the surdo to samba there wasn’t a big, loud bass drum loud enough to hold the beat and be heard by everyone. The main percussion instruments in samba were agogo, ganza, chocalho, recoreco, cavaquinho and cuica. With its simple, strong rhythm the surdo drum was an immediate success. By the following year all the other samba schools had copied it and were using the drum in carnival.