Date: Date: Saturday, June 5, 2010
Venue: S.O.B.’s, NY

Text by Jim Hoey

(photo by Charlie Mixson)

SambaDá hail from San José, California but came into NYC’s S.O.B.’s (Sounds of Brazil) recently for a two-set night of Brazilian samba and surf rock on June 5th. For this two-set night, they started off with traditional Brazilian samba, saving the more pulsing and surf-rock–edged songs for later in the second set. Throughout, they commanded the stage with 7 players, including 2 percussionists (one who switched to bass), 2 dancers, a flutist, another guitar player, and Dandha da Hora, a Brazilian native and Orixa-honoring vocalist.

SambaDá take the vibe of Brazilian carnival mixed with the more Afro-inspired rhythms of the northern Salvador region, where the renowned Olodum call home. But they’re based in California, so they blend in a sun-drenched, beach-surf feel as well, that even veers into rock and funk territory when they’re all taken by the spirit. They even benefit from the capoeira energy that comes from leader Papiba Godinho’s years as master and teacher of this martial art. Members of the band are also known to jump on a surfboard or a skateboard, before jumping back into the studio, and this ever-ready energy comes through their instruments.

By the time they got back on stage for their second set, it seemed as if they were really warmed up at S.O.B’s this night, and that’s when things really took off. If you didn’t get down to Rio for Carnival this year and didn’t sort out a California vacation either, this show would have given you a taste of the breezy vibrations and mixed pulse that Santa Cruz’s SambaDá import from around the globe.