User:BayesianMV/Lions of Batucada

Lions of Batucada

Lions of Batucada was a Portland, Oregon Brazilian-music group (of the type known in Brazil as a "| bloco") from 1996 to 2010, with close ties to | Pink Martini.

The group was founded by Pink Martini drummer and percussionist Brian Davis for a one-off event to welcome Brazilian dignitaries to Portland, and sustained by directors Derek Reith (Pink Martini, deceased) and Andrew Hartzell, along with Brian Davis, who is the sole permanent member of the group since the community ensemble broke up in 2010, and continues to perform with invited musicians under the Lions of Batucada name. Other directors over the years included [the first dance director??], Sheyla Mattos, and Donna Oefinger (dance directors), Andy Sterling (seen directing the group in ), Tobias Manthey, Mehmet Vurkaç (seen vocalizing drum parts in ), and Randy Givens who was the de facto long-term director in the absence of the Pink Martini-member founders.

The group has performed hundreds of shows over its 15 years, from street fairs and corporate engagements to a residency at the now defunct Brazilian restaurant 'Brasilia' [GET REFS] and events at Portland State University [GET REFS], Reed College [GET REFS], and elsewhere [GET REFS]. The group's second performance was opening for David Byrne at the Oregon Zoo. Other groups they have shared the stage with include Sean Lennon, the Oregon Symphony, Pink Martini, Dirty Martini, Storm Large (pre-Pink Martini), The Stolen Sweets, Stephanie Schneiderman, Three Leg Torso, and MarchFourth Marching Band.

Early members of the groups included then Pink Martini bassist John Wager, then Pink Martini trap drummer Richard Rothfus, then Pink Martini vibraphonist Doug Smith, and at various times, members of The Dandy Warhols, The Rotating Leslies, and Kaiju 7, among other Portland rock bands. In 2000 [CHECK DATE], six Lions of Batucada members left to take part in the formation of the MarchFourth Marching Band. The majority of the remaining members of the Lions of Batucada community went on to form a somewhat similar Brazilian-music group called Bloco Alegria. Other former Lions of Batucada members have formed or taken part in various Portland-area Brazilian-themed groups such as z'Bumba and For All (forró), Choro da Alegria and Alma Brasileira (| choro), Mais Que Samba (axé), and the Axé Didé Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian Dance Ensemble.

The Lions of Batucada have recorded twice with Pink Martini, first in 2001 (unused on the final CD) and then for the 2010 album Joy to the World. In between, Lions of Batucada dancers and drummers took part in the concert film Discover the World. The group also performed with Fishbone at a live radio show on | KPSU.