Samba Squad
Encyclopedia
Samba Squad is a Canadian World Music
Fusion group. The Squad was formed in 1999 by percussionist Rick Shadrach Lazar. The band incorporates world rhythms performed on Brazilian Bateria
drum
s and percussion
. Their musical style combines Samba
with other styles such as Salsa
, Soca
, Reggae
and Funk
.
Samba Squad was awarded the UMAC (Urban Music Assoc. of Canada) Award for Best World Recording of 2001 for their self-titled debut album. They are a highly popular group well known for the energy of their live shows.
, Roots & Blues Festival at Salmon Arms, B.C., London's Sun Fest, Ottawa Jazz Festival and Muhtadi's International Drum Fest in Tobago
. It has also performed at sporting events such as the Toronto Raptors
, Toronto Argos and Blue Jays
half-time shows and has many television appearances such as the Governor General's Awards CBC Television
, The Toronto Show
, Breakfast Television
and Open Mike with Mike Bullard
. The band is a frequent participant in Toronto
-area community festivals such as Caribana
, the Pride Parade
, the Beaches International Jazz Festival
, the Kensington Festival of Lights, AfroFest, Salsa on St. Clair and others.
In 2004, Vision TV
and Bravo! along with Riddle Films co-produced an hour documentary about the group. "Samba Squad: Drums We Love" was broadcast on both Vision TV and BRAVO on a second window.
Samba Squad opened for Grammy
and Juno
award-winning singer Sarah McLachlan
and is a regular guest performer for Canadian Nuevo Flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook
, appearing on two of his CDs as well as his recent DVD. The group has also performed with other international acts such as Antibalas.
In August 2007, Samba Squad performed at Cree
Fest in Kashechewan (James Bay), Ontario
, in celebration of the Cree culture and the community’s 50th anniversary. Samba Squad is the first
group of its kind to be honored with such an invitation. While there, Samba Squad participated in ground-breaking collaborations with the Shawanda dancers.
Samba Squad performed in City TV's 2008/2009 New Year's Eve live TV gala at Nathan Phillips Square
, which included a collaboration with award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist
.
An edited version of the track "Maracatu Funk", from the album Batuque, was used for a dance number during the Week 2 episode, which aired on November 3, 2009, of the 6th Season
of the US version of Fox Television's So You Think You Can Dance
, featuring dancers Channing Cooke & Phillip Attmore performing a Samba
dance number.
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
Fusion group. The Squad was formed in 1999 by percussionist Rick Shadrach Lazar. The band incorporates world rhythms performed on Brazilian Bateria
Bateria
The term bateria means “drum kit” in Portuguese and Spanish. In Brazil, the word is also used for a form of Brazilian samba band, the percussion band or rhythm section of a Samba School...
drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s and percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
. Their musical style combines Samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
with other styles such as Salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, Soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
, Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and Funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
.
Samba Squad was awarded the UMAC (Urban Music Assoc. of Canada) Award for Best World Recording of 2001 for their self-titled debut album. They are a highly popular group well known for the energy of their live shows.
Appearances
Samba Squad has performed in the Toronto Downtown Jazz FestivalToronto Downtown Jazz Festival
The Toronto Jazz Festival is a jazz event in Toronto and takes place in June and July. Unlike the Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival, most of the events are indoors and located throughout the downtown core. Formerly known as the DuMaurier Jazz Festival until the ban on tobacco advertising by the federal...
, Roots & Blues Festival at Salmon Arms, B.C., London's Sun Fest, Ottawa Jazz Festival and Muhtadi's International Drum Fest in Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
. It has also performed at sporting events such as the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...
, Toronto Argos and Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
half-time shows and has many television appearances such as the Governor General's Awards CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
, The Toronto Show
The Toronto Show
The Toronto Show was a Canadian television variety show, which aired from 2003 to 2005 on Toronto's independent station Toronto 1.The show was hosted by Enis Esmer, except for a series of specials hosted by Alan Park, Sean Cullen and others....
, Breakfast Television
Breakfast Television
Breakfast Television is a Canadian morning news and entertainment program which airs on the Citytv stations . Each station produces its own local edition of Breakfast Television....
and Open Mike with Mike Bullard
Open Mike with Mike Bullard
Open Mike with Mike Bullard was a Canadian late-night talk show which was broadcast live from 1997 to 2003 on CTV and on The Comedy Network in primetime. It was hosted by comedian Mike Bullard and initially taped at a studio at the back of Wayne Gretzky's restaurant in Toronto, Ontario before CTV...
. The band is a frequent participant in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-area community festivals such as Caribana
Caribana Festival (Canada)
Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto, formerly known as Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Annually, the festival draws hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the globe to Toronto's lakeshore...
, the Pride Parade
Pride Week (Toronto)
Pride Week is a ten-day event held in Toronto, Canada, during the end of June each year. It is a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area. It is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, featuring several stages with live performers and...
, the Beaches International Jazz Festival
Beaches International Jazz Festival
The Beaches International Jazz Festival is a 10-day music festival held each year in the lakeside “Beach” community of Toronto in the month of July. The Festival takes place across a number of venues. Stage concerts are held in several different parks within the area and also along a 2 kilometer...
, the Kensington Festival of Lights, AfroFest, Salsa on St. Clair and others.
In 2004, Vision TV
Vision TV
VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic....
and Bravo! along with Riddle Films co-produced an hour documentary about the group. "Samba Squad: Drums We Love" was broadcast on both Vision TV and BRAVO on a second window.
Samba Squad opened for Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
and Juno
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
award-winning singer Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...
and is a regular guest performer for Canadian Nuevo Flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook
Jesse Cook
Jesse Cook is a Toronto-based guitarist, born in Paris to Canadian parents. Like other guitarists of his style of music, he incorporates funky jazz, latin & world music into his playing. Cook is also well known for the energy of his live shows. He has contributed to the Afro Celt Sound System album...
, appearing on two of his CDs as well as his recent DVD. The group has also performed with other international acts such as Antibalas.
In August 2007, Samba Squad performed at Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
Fest in Kashechewan (James Bay), Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, in celebration of the Cree culture and the community’s 50th anniversary. Samba Squad is the first
group of its kind to be honored with such an invitation. While there, Samba Squad participated in ground-breaking collaborations with the Shawanda dancers.
Samba Squad performed in City TV's 2008/2009 New Year's Eve live TV gala at Nathan Phillips Square
Nathan Phillips Square
Nathan Phillips Square is an urban plaza that forms the forecourt to Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, at the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street, and named for Nathan Phillips, mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962. The square opened in 1965, and, as with the City Hall, the square was...
, which included a collaboration with award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist
Leslie Feist
Leslie Feist , known professionally as simply Feist, is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene....
.
An edited version of the track "Maracatu Funk", from the album Batuque, was used for a dance number during the Week 2 episode, which aired on November 3, 2009, of the 6th Season
So You Think You Can Dance (season 6)
So You Think You Can Dance, also known as SYTYCD, is a United States television reality program and dance competition airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company network. Season six premiered on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, with Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy returning as permanent judges and Cat Deeley...
of the US version of Fox Television's So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
, featuring dancers Channing Cooke & Phillip Attmore performing a Samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
dance number.
Awards and nominations
- Awarded the Urban Music Association of Canada (UMAC) Award for Best World Recording of 2001 for their self-titled debut album