The Mersey drummers bringing Brazilian rhythms and joy to events in Liverpool

With their bold red, black and white costumes and infectious rhythms, Batala Mersey drummers have become an instantly recognisable sight – and sound – at events across Liverpool.

The group is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, with up to 40 home performances as well as at the world famous Notting Hill Carnival and in Brazil where the concept originated.

Now with around 80 members of all ages, from late teens to retirement, Batala Mersey has become hugely popular at street carnivals and festivals across the region.

The reason, says musical director David Díaz Varnom, is the sheer joy the music creates not just among its players but for audiences wherever they go.

He said:

“Music is at the centre of Batala but ultimately there’s so much more around that – it’s about sharing the culture and somebody else’s traditions too,”.

“The whole ethos of this music is that it calls you, it’s so energetic and so spiritual, and you can hear it from so far away because it’s loud and so distinctive.

“When you hear it played in the streets, particularly surrounded by buildings, you get an echo but we often play on the Pier Head and we have people on the Wirral who message to say they can hear us!”

Batala Mersey is actually one of 46 global Batala groups, known as chapters.

The first was started in 1997 in Paris by Giba Gonçalves, who arrived there from Salvador da Bahia in Brazil to study music and wanted to recreate the live percussive music on the streets he was used to.

That developed into Batala Mundo, a worldwide project promoting and sharing Afro-Brazilian percussion specifically samba-reggae.

David, who lives in Mossley Hill, explains:

“All the bands around the world exist now because somebody from one band moved to another place and wanted to start up a group.

“The first one after Paris was Portsmouth, and over time that’s spread so now there are over 1500 drummers worldwide.

“In Liverpool there was a group of us who’d been in percussion before in a different Batala chapter in the city that was no longer going. We got together – 17 of us including me – 10 years ago to set up Batala Mersey because it was a really special thing for us.”

The group rehearses weekly, usually in schools where the acoustics are good, and performs at events from March to November each year, playing four different types of drums: dobra, repinique, caixa and surdo (they’re the big ones!).

Most recently it’s been at Liverpool BID’s Celebrating Bold Street and Castle Street festivals. On Saturday August 30 it will be part of the Last Day of Summer event at the waterfront, and on Sunday September 14 drummers will be at the Arena entertaining crowds at the World Boxing Championships Finals.

David added:

“Within Batala Mersey, we have an opportunity for people to travel and experience other countries, but at our heart the band is very much Liverpool City Region focused,”.

When they aren’t at a booking here, members often represent Merseyside elsewhere, collaborating with other Batala chapters to form a larger group.

“There really isn’t an ideal performance number, it can be as small as 8 or into the hundreds,” says David. “At Notting Hill this year we joined with other groups from across the world and there were 240 of us.

“Last year we hosted an event for all the UK bands and held a big gig on waterfront where we had 230.”

As well as having a shared repertoire of music, which all groups are taught in the same way, Batala chapters also use authentic instruments.

When members go over to Brazil for Carnivale in Salvador, they source drums and costumes.

“We join a local band from Salvador which was established by the same guy who set up Batala, and for us that’s a great privilege. A group usually goes every year from Liverpool because it’s the ultimate event you can be part of.

“Most of the drums and kit, and all of the costumes, come from Brazil. We try to support the community, and most of the drums aren’t made in a factory, they’re street drums, so they’re made in a backyard of somebody’s house. The costumes are locally made in Salvador too, so we bring everything back to Liverpool when we go over each year. Someone flies home with 50-60kg of luggage!”