Mersey Samba beat heard at Wembley

Jun 2 2007 by Staff Reporter, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Samba beat echoed around the new Wembley stadium as Liverpool’s Batala Samba Community Band performed before England’s friendly against Brazil last night.

The band had the honour to play one of the most popular forms of music in Brazil, samba-reggae combinations with African influences using four different drums.

The powerful and hypnotic big drum sound captured the vitality of Brazilian culture and produced an exciting fusion of rhythm, movement and costume.

The samba band have entertained all over Europe, and were the backing group for the Sugababes at the Royal Variety performance at London’s Coliseum Theatre, last December, when they performed in front of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The band, which is part of the international family of Batala, was also voted best band at the Lord Mayor's parade in June, 2006.

Batala is a form of Samba drum music which originates in Salvador de Bahia in North Eastern Brazil.

The band travelled to London where they rehearsed outside the London stadium where fans turned out in mass numbers.

John Rowlands, Batala Liverpool Samba Band member, said: “We played as the teams arrived. It was a great atmosphere.”

NINETY-THOUSAND fans stood to applaud the memory of the late Everton and England legend Alan Ball, before kick-off at last night’s game.

The big screen at the Wembley displayed messages paying tribute to the World Cup winner’s services to football.

Ball died on April 25 at the age of 61 and was the youngest member of England's World Cup winning football team of 1966.

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