The Story of Raio De Sol
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Raio de Sol is Canberra’s community samba drumming band, bringing the Brazilian rhythms of samba to the ACT. Raio de Sol – meaning ‘sunbeam’ in Portuguese, is open to anyone regardless of musical ability or previous experience, and has played hundreds of gigs across the ACT and interstate over the last few years.
Raio de Sol was born in October 2013. The first rehearsal began with 8 drummers at the Downer Community Hall playing on a bateria consisting of a repurposed drum kit from the tip, two djembes and a bunch of pots and pans. It was the start of something magical. Raio de Sol now consists of over 30 regular members with a complete samba bateria, reaching out to 1000s across our mailing list, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube Channel and other Social Media. We have played everything from small scale gigs at local ACT live music venues. We have performed in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade for many years now, perform in Samba Encontro's with our fellow samba baterias in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, and we have regularly featured at the National Multicultural Festival onstage and in the parade. |
Some of our performances include the National Folk Festival, Samba Encontro de Sydney, Samba Encontro Melbourne, Canberra Fashfest, Floriade, Noodle Night Markets, Canberra Zombie Walk, Day of the Dead celebrations, private and public Embassy performances and many other gig's across Canberra and interstate, as well as a little bit of busking in Civic from time to time.
Our band comprises people from across the world - Brazilian, Zimbabwean, Mexican, Japanese, South African, Indian, Fijian, Columbian, Italian, Indonesian, British and Australian, and we come from a super wide range of working backgrounds – students, chefs, public servants, doctors, retirees, teachers, unemployed, economists, diplomats. We have new people at almost every rehearsal - our band is growing. Raio de Sol is apolitical, non-religious and non-discriminatory - anyone and everyone from all walks of life is welcome to join, regardless of musical ability. Practice and performances are completely voluntary. We provide the drums and the rhythms, all you need to bring is a smile and a love for beats. |
