VamoLa de novo

I finally went to see VamoLa again last Sunday. Seattle's community samba group, and once my heart and soul. VamoLa has had a rocky time of it the past couple years, and almost died several times; and in the process a lot of people's feelings got hurt. Mine got hurt bad enough that it drove me out of Seattle entirely. A lot of folks quit. I was even hoping it would die. It seemed like time for a fresh start.

But, well, they were playing at Rhythm Festival so I went drifting over there to check it out. And hey... it was fun! It was rocky, yeah, a lot of missed breaks and messy flams, but they kept it going, and they looked like they were having a good time. And.... jeez, a TON new people! With a new music director, Grant, a fine drummer. Grant used to play in the Austin (Texas) group with Jacare, until he moved to Seattle recently. He innocently joined the local samba group and then watched it immediately implode around him. Boy, did he ever rise to the challenge. He & I overlapped a little bit, and we met for one crash-course repique lesson last fall during which I showed him every single repique call, paradinha, and solo of every piece in the entire repertoire; then I took off for Brazil, and Grant took it from there.

Well, he sounds great. Beautiful playing and fine leading. I think he's a better repique player than I am now. He has saved the group. And people looked happy.

I thought, oh! It's a completely different group!

They're not exactly playing tightly...it was pretty messy. Understandable, since they've apparently drafted a whole fleet of new people recently who are still learning the repertoire. And, well... somehow the messy breaks didn't matter. The audience had a great time anyway. A lot of the audience got up and danced. And VamoLa's got the essential spirit of it; everybody on stage was obviously having a good time, and once in a groove, the groove was good. The dancers have a full set of astonishing Rio bikini-and-headdress outfits now. Several dancers are dancing at professional level now, so that was great to see.

They did a lot of the old repertoire and it was interesting to hear it with fresh ears after having played with so many other groups now. Two of the major pieces that I'd never had a problem with before, I suddenly wanted to re-write completely. (the middle of the 6/8, which I used to like and now suddenly hate; the entire first half of Boca. Some of the paradinhas.) AND, VamoLa is STILL ENTERING SAMBA CROSSED!!! How did this ever happen? It kept making my ears itch. Somewhere in the past they were taught a "6-count call" that they have stuck to like glue - I have never known where it came from. It's two beats shorter than standard. That may seem like a minor thing; but it means they come halfway through the clave. What it really means, functionally, for the musicians, is that no VamoLa player can play with any other group - not in the Lions, not in Brazil, not at camp - without entering crossed (which is bad - it means you're playing the second half of your pattern while everyone else is on the first half. You get yelled at and you feel stupid!). There are some ways in which VamoLa is a little out in left field; they're also the only group I know that doesn't play, or even know, the Salgueiro/Viradouro caixa ride. It's cool to be a little different - actually I've always really liked VamoLa's slightly unusual repertoire and their hybrid pieces - but not at the expense of not knowing the common language.

Anyway, that should be an easy fix, if I can just convince the old-timers that it's worth making the switch.

So, hm.

It was fun to see them again. I hung out and had a beer afterwards. They are such good people. I found myself telling everybody that it was a good show, which didn't seem exactly correct because some things had been so messy, and yet it didn't seem incorrect either. Everybody'd had a good time and the audience got up and danced. The group is alive and growing; everybody's happy; that's a good place to grow from.