Autumn, 2002, and Samba Bangor welcomes the return of Paul Green after an absence of a few years.  While away, he'd played with a band in Portsmouth, and, given half a chance, would rave on about the music they played and their visiting tutor/mentor, Giba Gonçalves.

Would we like Giba to come and do a workshop, he asked eventually - and so it was that spring, 2003, saw us practicing one of his pieces ready for the great man's arrival in April.  The workshop was a success, and we were all blown away by the man and his music - so much so, we couldn't wait to see him again, and he was back a few weeks later (on his way over to Ireland) to give us a second dose of the Giba treatment (which,by the way, is pretty demanding, physically and technically.  He's also got a good line in scary looks when he's not happy - although he's a pussycat, really).

Giba took a liking to us, also, and invited us to join the Europe-wide Batala family, which, as well as Portsmouth, includes bands in Paris, Nantes, & La Rochelle. We've been playing a repertoire of his music, under the direction of Paul, since then. We've played carnivals, festivals, and night clubs and the response has always been amazing - this stuff is so powerful and direct, it just grabs you by the hips and shakes you up!!

Having a shared repertoire means Batala people can come together and play - as some 75 or 80 of us (including several from SB) did for the 2003 Notting Hill Carnival, under the direction of Giba....a 3 hour-plus marathon performance (and of course a chance to meet other Batala players).

Since then, bands in Barmouth, Lancaster and Liverpool have also caught the Batala bug, and 2004 saw the first Europe-wide Batala Encontro held in La Rochelle.

Click here for photos from Batala Encontro 2004