O Dia Article about Manhattan Samba - July 13, 2008

Lyrics to Manhattan Samba's Enredo

Manhattan Samba, New York's longest-running authentic Brazilian samba drum ensemble, has been delivering its irresistible, energetic, driving rhythms to dance floors around New York for over a decade. The all-percussion ensemble is a traditional Brazilian bateria, based on the drum groups that accompany the yearly carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro. Manhattan Samba is directed by Ivo Araujo, a master percussionist who has performed with leading samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, and was founded in 1990 by Ivo and Amy Duncan, jazz pianist, composer and leader of the band Brass Tacks. Manhattan Samba is a truly international group, with members from Brazil, Central and South America, Europe, Japan and the U.S., all of them trained by Ivo Araujo in his weekly samba percussion classes.

Manhattan Samba plays every Saturday night at New York's top Brazilian club SOBs (corner of Varick & Houston Streets in Manhattan). Those performances were selected by The Village Voice as "the best way to wind up a Saturday night club crawl" with "stomping polyrhythms that ripple out like shock waves." This late night dance party (2 - 4 a.m.) has kept SOBs audiences gyrating and coming back week after week for over five years.

Time Out New York alliteratively singled out Manhattan Samba as the group that "bombards your brain and booty with a battery of bumpin' Brazilian batucada beats."

Since its early days, Manhattan Samba has played at a number of trendy New York clubs such as Au Bar, Spy and the Bowery Bar, and has drawn huge crowds in Central Park and on 46th Street during the Brazilian Independence Day celebrations in September. In 1995, Ivo and Amy did a two-month run at Context Hall with Manhattan Samba and Brass Tacks.

In 2001, Manhattan Samba shared the bill with reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and The Harlem Gospel Choir at a holiday concert in support of the Hope for African Children Initiative. Concerning that event, The Village Voice wrote, "The martial march-time rhythms of the drums of Manhattan Samba evoke the pre-Lenten Theme parades of Rio's yearly carnival."

The band, which can swell from 15 to 50 members as needed, has also brought its sizzling rhythms to the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Brazilfests, playing opposite such Brazilian luminaries as Sandra de Sá and Emilio Santiago, and was the opening band for Carlinhos Brown at the Beacon Theatre during the JVC Jazz Festival in 1999. Manhattan Samba also played at Carnegie Hall for Wyclef Jean's annual benefit and later on recorded a Pepsi Cola commercial with him. The group has also played at the Princeton University annual alumni festival, NYC's famous Halloween, Earth Day and Gay Pride parades, and has joined Paul Winter for his renowned Summer and Winter Solstice Concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Manhattan Samba is available to entertain audiences of all ages and backgrounds at clubs, private parties, community events or parades.

For booking, classes or other information, leave a message at: (212) 802-8325

IVO ARAUJO

Ivo Araujo is a native carioca - born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, home of the world's most famous carnival. A master percussionist and samba dancer, Ivo has performed both in Brazil and in the U.S.A.

Blessed with a mother who loved samba and Rio's carnival, Ivo was introduced to this wonderful world of rhythm, color and music at age five. While he was growing up, Ivo spent a lot of time at the samba schools, the large social clubs that make up Rio's carnival parades. At the rehearsals of Portela - one of Rio's oldest and most beloved samba schools - he learned to dance by watching the passistas - the master solo samba dancers. When he finally got the courage to get up and dance himself, it was if he has been dancing the samba for years - his feet were moving so fast you could hardly see them. Immediately he was invited to join Portela's carnival parade. From then on he dedicated himself to perfecting his technique.

But most of all, Ivo was enchanted by the baterias - the samba school percussion groups - and after watching and imitating them by playing with his hands, he was ready to jump in and try a real instrument. Before long, he was playing all the instruments - caixa, surdo, repinique, tamborim, agogô, chocalho, frigideira, colher (a specialty of the samba school Vila Isabel), pandeiro, reco-reco and cuíca - and playing them well. For many years, he took part in the yearly carnival parades in Rio, both as percussionist and passista.

Later on, Ivo brought his talent to the U.S., where he has generously contributed his knowledge to Americans and others interested in learning samba, and has spent his time teaching, playing and touring. When he first came to New York City, he put an ambitious Brazilian samba show together featuring dancers, singers, and musicians. The show had a successful eight-month run at a nightclub in Queens.

Ivo and Amy Duncan, jazz pianist/composer/arranger, founded Manhattan Samba (aka União da Ilha de Manhattan), New York's premier samba group, in 1990.

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