batalá nyc
My connections to Batalá NYC (now Batalá New York) are deep and multi-faceted. I first became aware of this all female Afro-Brazilian drumming band when I wrote an article for Tom Tom Magazine called The Gender Divide in Highland Drum Corps. Batalá NYC appeared on the cover of that issue. I then shot, edited and produced a documentary about Tom Tom Magazine and a performance installation they did at MoMA PS1 called The Oral History of Female Drummers. There I met and worked with Brad Heck who provided the still images for the video and various media coverage. I was impressed with his work and collaborative ethic, so I hired him to work at BRIC Arts Media Bklyn. Turns out his partner was a Batalá NYC drummer! We had just completed renovation on BRIC House and I wanted to produce a performance installation in the art gallery, a radical idea at the time which has now become commonplace. Brad and I discussed having Batalá NYC perform. I hired him as a camera operator while I directed and produced the video and performance. I also directed and produced a TV segment about Batalá NYC on our live news and information show BK Live. Through these productions, I got to know the director of the band and we collaborated on a performance at littlefield, blending Brazilian drumming from her band and Scottish bagpipe music from my band, Kings County Pipes & Drums. She then invited me to play with them at Dyke March NYC and various other performances as a guest drummer. I traveled with the band to Carnaval in Salvador, Brasil to play with Batalá Mundo and Cortejo Afro and to Encontro in San Francisco. I would continue to shoot videos and take photographs of them when not playing with them. These are pictures I took of the band performing at the LGBT Expo at the Jacob Javits Center. I continue to collaborate with Batalá bands as long as they'll have me!