About us
About Batala Lancaster
Batala is a form of Samba Drum music which originates in Salvador de Bahia in North Eastern Brazil. Batala was formed as the European wing of Cortejo Afro (a style of Brazilian Samba) by Giba Gonçalves in Paris in 1997.
Giba is the maestro of the Batala sound, which he composed after the style of his home town Salvador, in Brazil. The music has its roots in African traditional music which found its way to Brazil and has been incorporated into Brazilian culture since.
Using this influence, Giba formed a 60-piece drumming band, called Batala, and encouraged anyone with an interest in his music to form their own Batala group under his name. There are now 46 Batala groups in 17 countries around the world.
Our international community of over 1,500 drummers all play the same Batala rhythms composed by Giba as part of Batala Mundo, and bands regularly play together at large events such as Notting Hill Carnival.
Batala Lancaster was the third UK Batala band, formed in 2004 after Batala Portsmouth and Batala Bangor. In 2019 we celebrated the band’s 15th Birthday with an adventure drumming weekend.
