São Paulo – A group of women percussionists has been shaking up the Lebanese parties. Created only ten months ago, the group Bloco Rubra Rosa (The Red-Pink Bloc) already made its way to the Fetê de la Musique lineup, the largest music festival in Lebanon, plus it has been playing in weddings, street festivals, birthdays, fundraising events and other celebrations. The bloc, fronted by Roberta Meireles, from Bahia state, has 14 women from different nationalities.
Meireles is not of Arab origins and went to live in Lebanon at the invitation of a friend to work on a capoeira project, since she’s an instructor of the sport. Once in there, she joined a coed percussion group. With the end of this group, she came up with the idea of a women-only group.
“It’s an idea that sells well, it’s interesting”, she ponders. She says that the members don’t have musical training and learned to play during the rehearsals. “They were learning and playing”, says Meireles.
Currently, the group has been playing snare drums, repique drums, base drums, shaker, shekere, timbal drums, tambourine and cuíca (friction drum). “We want to add cavaquinho and viola”, Meireles says. In the group there are members from Brazil, Lebanon, Mexico and Venezuela. Brazilians are the majority and, according to the frontwoman, they help to introduce the others to the Brazilian rhythms.
Meireles says that the group’s instruments are provided by company Passos Alegres, a Brazilian entertainment company in Lebanon. The instruments are imported from Brazil, since they are not for sale in the Arab country.
In the group’s set list are samba, samba-reggae and afoxé songs. Afoxé is a rhythm that comes from candomble rhythms, that is, from African origins. Meireles says that the Lebanese really enjoy Brazilian music. “The baiano [from Bahia] rhythm moves them the most, but samba does it too”, she says.
About the performance of the Lebanese women in the group, she assures that there weren’t any difficulties in learning to play the Brazilian instruments. “The percussion musical culture here is great. Very similar to Brazil”, she adds.
Contact info
Bloco Rubra Rosa
Facebook: www.facebook.com/blocorubrarosa
Phone: +961 3 182 426
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
