Brazilian Drumming from Samba da Cidade Cleveland Cultural Gardens Centennial Plaza World on Stage June 29, 2024
Every summer the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation hosts a series of free World on Stage concerts at the Centennial Peace Plaza on MLK Blvd. in Cleveland. The first concert of Summer 2024 was on June 29, 2024 and the focus was Percussion of the World. 4 diverse drum acts performed and the first performance was by Samba da Cidade (SDC), or "Samba of the City" in Portuguese.
Samba da Cidade at World on Stage
Samba da Cidade is a Cleveland-based samba school that brings together percussionists and dancers of all levels and ages to learn, play, dance, and perform samba and other rhythms inspired by the African Diaspora in Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere. Created and directed by Cleveland drummer and percussionist Dylan Moffitt (B. Mus., M. Mus., Cleveland Institute of Music), SDC is modeled after Rio de Janeiro's escolas de samba, the grass-roots organizations that prepare communities for the Carnaval parade.
SDC emerged in the summer of 2021, during the pandemic-induced isolation, when a handful of drummers began attending classes in Cleveland's Wade Oval park on Sunday evenings. What began as an effort to alleviate seclusion transformed into a thriving ensemble.
In this video, leader Dylan Moffitt explains the group and music and then they perform a Samba Improv.
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This second performance was led by Chime (pronounced Chi-meh) who is a first-generation Nigerian who has lived mainly in the US but also Nigeria. He taught the audience some phrases and they joined in the song which then developed with the drums.
During this next performance, the groove inspires a young lady to dance.
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