http://gingaband.com/news.html Ginga and Ginga Grande: News Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:55:28 -0700 http://gingaband.com/news.html#22
That very first First Thursday was memorable in many ways. Our primary focus was to get our feet on the ground with our pagode de mesa material and to raise funds to purchase an instrument for Instruments 4 Change to send to Brazil. We did both. And...we ran out of songs to sing/play for you in about an hour and twenty minutes. There were perhaps 40 or so people dancing that night with a lot of people sitting around, eyes staring at their computers. Still, for the rest of us that first night, the feeling was there, the music spoke to all of us, and we were all ready for more.

Fast-forward to last night at the Goat...250 people dancing like crazy and singing with us, the band played for 3 hrs with many songs untouched, the vibe was intense and beautiful. The band continues to rehearse every week to add new songs, to refine old ones, to work out arrangements, to work on our craft, to feed the fire.

The future: We've started playing at Abo's on occasional Sunday afternoons. Our first, on May 16, 2010, was a great success. We have another scheduled for July 18 (2-5pm), the first opportunity where all of us in the band are available on a Sunday afternoon. We'd like to settle into a once-a-month routine at Abo's, too, but this will take time since weekend afternoons are typically filled with money gigs (weddings) for musicians, especially in the summer months. We plan for Ginga Grande to be that for us, but for now we would like to keep the door fee at $5 if possible. Five bucks is easy to spend. $10 is a bit more difficult. We'll have to step it up to that greater amount at some point for sure. We give a lot doing this music and you to give it as well, with your dancing, your singing, and your $$. It's about that energy exchange thing. It's real...it's lovely...we thank you.

Another plan for the future is to play a monthly gig in Denver. We will be doing a test of that at the Mercury Cafe on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Be sure to spread the word to help us make it a great event. There are a lot of Brazilians in Denver that would like this to be part of their world, and a lot of Denver gringos that don't know yet what they are missing. Once it takes hold in Denver, there is no stopping it. Part of why we know Denver will take off stems from our February Carnival gig at the Euphoria Lounge, downtown Denver. There were about 400 people there, many turned away at the door, and most attending were Brazilian. When we are playing a song and can hear 50-100 people singing with us...well...there is nothing like it. We'll have that in Boulder, too, soon!!

You may have noticed our band personnel has changed over time. Early on at the Goat, we had Reed Flygt and Ty Hammes playing with us often. Sometimes Jonny Rad and Scott Messersmith would join us, too. We also had Francisco's sister, Laura, and Daniel Ondero as regulars in the band, with Carmen Sandim joining up several months into our First Thursdays. Reed and Ty moved away, Jonny and Scott are busy with their own projects, and more recently, Laura, Carmen, and Daniel decided to pursue other projects. My daughter, Maya, sings with us whenever possible and the rest of us should be stable for a long time: the original quartet (Ginga) consisting of me, Fran, Bill, and Raoul, with Ian Brighton and Carl Dixon filling out the core of the group. We are looking to add a female lead singer that can keep up with Fran and play top level percussion or cavaq or both like Fran does, or she plays bass and percussion. We would feel complete with that addition.

We've started leading Ginga Grande Chorus classes on a sporadic basis with an enthusiastic group of singers. So far we have met twice and worked on five songs. There are twenty people involved, a number we would like to see tripled. Contact us at 1.ginga@gmail.com to sign up. Classes are $10 and go for an hour and a half. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, June 24, probably from 7:30-9pm. Location TBA.

I'll try to be more regular with these updates, so check in often. Leave your comments in the guestbook because we'd love to hear from you! Thank you for being part of our world of samba de mesa and for stepping onto this beautiful musical journey with us!

Obrigado! See you soon!

Greg]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#22 Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#21 http://gingaband.com/news.html#21 Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#19 http://gingaband.com/news.html#19 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#18 http://gingaband.com/news.html#18 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#20 www.thelaughinggoat.com). Ginga Grande is the band, comprised of ten musicians playing the indoor samba music of Brazil. We sit samba de roda (samba circle) style around a table and the audience can come right up to the band, dance, sing with us, clap in the clapping sections of songs, and enjoy the authentic Brazilian experience. Ginga Grande is playing is support of Instruments For Change, an organization raising funds to purchase flutes, clarinets, and saxophones and send them down to Rio to supply a couple music schools with needed instruments. These schools are providing a musical education for the impoverished children of Rio's favelas. Your generous donations of dollars and/or musical instruments will go a long way to providing a way out of the favels for these kids. Join us March 5, April 2, May 7, and June 4. Summer First Thursdays are likely, too!!]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#20 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#17
We start at 8pm at The Laughing Goat at 1709 Pearl St., Boulder and will likely play till they make us stop. Admission is free, but we request your donations.

Bring your dancing feet, your vocal chords, your love of Brazilian music. Sing with us if you know the songs! We'll even have the lyrics set out. If you know the percussion parts, we may have you join us. We'll be playing samba, chorinho, pagode, maybe even some bossa nova.

The lineup: Greg, Francisco, Bill, and Raoul

ALSO:
Let us know if you are interested in joining a developing, beginning bateria. We are looking to have between 20 and 40 people in the ensemble by the end of 2009!! We're talking about a whole surdo section, a caixas section, a repinique section, and of course, the tamborim section, and the bells.

Ginga at the:
thelaughinggoat.com

December 19, 2008
8pm

We look forward to seeing you there!!

The band]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#17 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#15
Perhaps the top-ten Ginga question #8 should be What Is Pagode? Well, it's going to have to wait since our Monday night rehearsal just ended (at midnight) and sleep is calling. We worked on a bunch of new material, as usual. Sometimes it takes several weeks of rehearsals to get a piece up to presentation level, but we sure have a great time in the process.

So . . . come out and hear us, dance with us, sing with us (or start learning the pagode songs and join in). Remember to plan your party or gathering for a Tuesday evening with us at the St. Julien! The band is already hired and paid for. You can't beat that, for sure.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The band]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#15 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#14
The shrunken guitar that Francisco frequently plays is called a cavaquinho (ka-va-keeng-you), or more commonly called a cavaco (ka-vok). Little four-stringed guitars are found around the world, including the quatro of Venezuela, the requinto of Spain, and the ukelele of Hawaii, obviously related from way back. In Brasil, the cavaco is used in several styles of music including choro (shore-roo) and pagode (paw-goa-gee), both of which we play in Ginga. Choro is instrumental music with long, fancy melodies and pagode is the chorus singing with percussion. The cavaco has a cutting sound which lends itself to be both a harmonic and a rhythmic instrument. It is as much a part of the percussion sound as any of the drums or shakers. If you watch Francisco's right hand as he strums the chords, you'll see that he is playing a confusing looking rhythmic pattern that is essential to the sound of Brasilian music, a series of notes on and off the beat that gives the music its lilt. Combine that with the rest of the instruments and it makes you want to dance the samba.

So enough of that, already. Just come out and hear us play.

Tonight, at the St.Julien Hotel: 6:45-9pm. You never know what's going to happen. Last week we were surprised and delighted by two visitors that sat in with the band, a Brasilian guitarist/singer (lives in Florida now) and a Brasilian drummer/percussionist (just moved to Boulder). And, yes, we had a lot of fun.

See you there!

The band (Ginga)]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#14 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#13
Okay, okay. So our name isn't very easy to pronounce. In fact, I think there are as many ways to pronounce "Ginga" as there are ways to pronounce Greg LaLiberte's last name. One of the common Ginga pronunciations is with both "G's" spoken as a hard "G." This, in fact, is how to pronounce the well-known Brazilian guitarist/composer, Guinga. Another common pronunciation of "Ginga" is with the first "G" spoken as a soft "G," for instance how we say "Jar." I even heard someone say Ginga with both "G's" spoken with that kind of soft "G." It sounded like "Gin-Jaw."

The proper first "G" in Ginga is similar to a soft "G" but with more length to it, as in adding vocal vibration to "Shhhhhh" the same way we add vocal vibration to an "S" to make a "Z." No English word comes to mind with this sound, but think of the way Italians say "Parmesan." The "S" has a lengthened soft "G" sound. The rest of the first syllable is pronounced like "Sing" and the second syllable is pronounced with a hard "G" rhyming with "Saw." That comes out to: ggg-ing-Ga. Maybe we start spelling it "gginGa." Was that clear as the meaning of the word "obfuscation?"

So . . . now that you know how to say it, come out and hear it. We play tonight (Tuesday) from 6:45-9:00 at the St. Julien, no doubt fireside in the lobby. We are getting the sound quality dialed in nicely. Last week we heard nothing but compliments on that very tricky of tasks for us since the lobby is full of flat, hard surfaces that ricochet the sounds back and forth.

The lineup: Greg LaLiberte, flute, saxes, percussion, vocals
Francisco Marques, guitars, cavacinho, percussion, lead vocals
Bill Kopper, guitar, percussion, vocals
Bijoux Barbosa, bass
Raoul Rossiter, drums, percussion, vocals


We are adding new material every week, lately especially more pagode (another word to figure out how to pronounce). We also enjoy playing your old favorites if you can hum a few bars. Or dance it. Or describe the song's form and key center.

Remember, have your birthday or any kind of party with us. The band and the service is built in and you can just hang out and have a great time.

We look forward to seeing you!]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#13 Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News http://gingaband.com/news.html#12
No telling at this point whether we will be playing inside or outside at the St. Julien. It's great either way.

Here's to putting a thought in your cap: When you are next planning a gathering or party, have it with us at the St. Julien. People have been doing this more and more recently and it has been great fun. Food and drinks are served, the music is provided (that would be Ginga!), and you can't go wrong.

We love playing our music for you!

The band,]]> http://gingaband.com/news.html#12 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Samba, Pagode, Choro, Forro - Ginga and Ginga Grande - News