The Samba Sisters

Samba Sisters Drumming Group based in SW Scotland

The great thing about the Samba Sisters is the women in the band are all so different and come from all walks of life. Being a Samba Sister is a great experience, where you can be yourself, have some fun and make some great new friends.

Here you can meet some of The Samba Sisters:

Marion Grierson

I joined the original women’s samba group in October 1998, five months after it formed.

The “Samba Sisters” evolved from those beginnings and almost 10 years later I still love the rhythms we play and the company of the fab women who are the Samba Sisters!

Fiona

I have been drumming for ten years, so you would think I would know what I was doing by now!

I was a member of The Belties in Castle Douglas before we split the group in half and I then became a Samba Sister. I enjoy the performances we do whether it is busking on the street or on a proper stage because I am a wee bit of a show off!

I enjoy getting to play all the different drums but you mostly see me on surdu, rep or hand percussion and I even get to lead one number. The Samba Sisters are a brilliant bunch of lasses and its great being a part of the band.

Gill

Hi, I’m Gill. I’ve been with the Samba Sisters since September 2004. I hate the reality that I’m becoming one of the ‘older’ members of the group. However, I try to address that by acting my shoe size.

I’m not good at dealing with boredom and my musical career ground to an abrupt and fairly extended halt at the age of 8 when, my mother reliably informs me, I apparently rebelled at having to do endless scales on a piano for a very dull but I’m sure well meaning teacher by sitting on the piano lid so it couldn’t be opened and refusing to move until she phoned my mother to come and take me away.

I went to T in the Park in the summer of 2000, wandered into one of the tents as you do, and was totally smitten by the energy and enjoyment a bunch of people were having. They were a Samba band – not sure who or where from – but they totally inspired me to do something.

On getting back to my day job - at that time I was running a community development project in Stranraer - we tried to get a Samba instructor but couldn’t because we were so far from other centres of population. However, we did manage to get a tutor in African drumming.

Drum for Fun was formed in 2000 and I loved every minute of it. It is still going strong and I get together with the friends from there every summer for a week’s camp and am going to one of their workshops next month.

I moved to Dumfries in December 2003 and helped to form a similar group here but for various reasons it wasn’t successful. I was looking around for something else and was introduced to Samba Sisters through a friend at work.

I remember the friendship and fun I experienced from the first time I came to Samba Sisters and it has carried on ever since. This was very much appreciated as a stranger in a new place at that time – and still is.

The group is constantly evolving and everyone has input to suggesting trying new things all the time which I think is great. Recent exploits such as Jumping Jaks and Strictly Cabaret have added new dimensions, not to mention the wigs and clothes!! I enjoy playing all the instruments, except the snare which I find just too fast for my wee frazzled brain to cope with.

I’ve now also got an African drumming group up and running with a nucleus of about 6 enthusiastic people. I hope Africadabras can become as good as Drum for Fun and the Samba Sisters in the future.

Saskia

In 2004 I read an article about the Samba Sisters in the local paper and decided just to walk in on one of their meetings the following week (I've since found out that this is not strictly allowed!). Having moved to this rural area after living in various UK cities and raising a small child, I was feeling a little isolated.

Thankfully the Samba Sisters recognised I had rhythym (I have played with various musical groups in my past) and I've been proudly making a loud noise with the Sisters ever since.

Alison M

Hi, I’m Alison, I’m a little over (2 times) 21 and have been with the Samba Sisters since September 2005. I had joined in a kid’s drumming session at Kirkcudbright (there were spaces for adults too, honest!), and really enjoyed it; then I heard some fantastic drumming sounds when I passed Gracefield one evening (my jogging phase); shortly afterwards, I saw an ad in the paper for the “Come and try Samba drumming”…the rest, as they say…is great fun and companionship!!!

I enjoy playing all those instruments, although I find snare more of a challenge! I enjoy most types of music (not so keen on country and western though…).

I can play the piano; and used to have a reasonable singing voice (we are learning a piece called Maracatu, which involves singing in Portuguese!). I was pretty self-conscious the first time we “gigged” in Dumfries town centre, but have now got 2 Guid Nychburris parades under my belt, plus lots of other evenings, including galas at Thornhill, Moffat, Kirkconnell… I even lead one of the numbers now. We all get on well and support each other; everyone takes turns on the different instruments and, most importantly has a good time!!

Hazel

Hiya, my name is Hazel and I've been a Samba Sister since September 2005. I always loved music at school but was no good at the piano, guitar etc. I liked singing but I always loved working with percussion. I saw the Samba Sisters busking in the town centre one day and I just felt so excited by the rhythm that I just had to move and dance to it's amazing sound. I knew right then that I had to be part of this FABULOUS group of girls. I recognised Marion and caught her eye and she told me that they would be having a recruitment drive that September. I joined and have loved every minute of it since.

I love the feeling of the beat of the music and the adrenalin rush when we perform. The fear of leading one of the numbers and the friendship and support of my fellow sisters. We have played in some interestig places and I hope that more people will recognise us and come and listen to us play and 'who knows' Maybe even have that same irresistible urge to join us as a SAMBA SISTER.

Anne G

I joined the Samba Sisters in 2006 and life has been a lot more fun since. I am the only left-handed one in the group as I am constantly reminded. I am even more odd in that I’m a leap year baby who only gets a birthday once every 4 years – aaaww!

I lived and worked in South Africa for 8 years and did loads of traveling and generally lived the high life, even doing a solo parachute jump. Since then I have married and had 2 sons who think mum being in a drumming group is both hilarious and embarrassing.

I have a day job as a medical secretary and when I have any free time I’m either mountain biking around the forest or crashed out on the couch! We have an ancient and very ugly old camper van and like nothing better than to get away for the weekend with the bikes, the barbie and the bottles of wine – and of course the inevitable drumsticks and practice pad!

Joanne Needham

My name is Joanne and I am 29 years old and I have been a member of the Samba Sisters since September 2006.  I am a very vibrant and energetic person and I love, love, love music.  Music is my passion and it rules my life from the moment I open my eyes to the moment I go to sleep.  I enjoy a wide variety of music but my favourites are indie rock and soul music.  My favourite bands/artists include Mogwai, Beck, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Aretha Frankin, Jackie Wilson and Curtis Mayfield the list goes on... I enjoy going to live gigs as well as playing in them with the Samba Sisters.

My interests also include going to the gym and keeping fit and fo-oood.  Its easy to say I love my grub.  I enjoy going out to good restaurants and eating local organic fresh food.  I also enjoy cooking and experimenting with different ingredients.  I could never starve myself so that's the main reason why I work-out, so I don't end up huge.

I am what you could say a "people person" and I enjoy meeting new people and understanding what makes them tick.  I am glad I am a Samba Sister and am proud to know a great bunch of gals.

Vanessa

Hi, I’m Vanessa. I joined the Samba Sisters in September 2006. Up until then I had never played percussion instruments. I played piano many years ago, and was amazed at the difference in approach to music. With piano, the whole piece was written up as perfection, and anything you played which was less than that written was wrong! My piano teacher at primary was a great believer in smacking my knuckles with a ruler!

With Samba Sisters, you watch the bandleader, and have to learn to fit your rhythm with the other players. Different and exhilarating every time! I’m now totally addicted to 6:8 beats. I’ve always loved a gripping rhythm in music and love Pink Floyd, Dave Gilmore, Dave Matthews Band, Santana, funk, Hip Hop, Rock, R& B, Blues and Scott Joplin Rag music and even Frank Sinatra. Love it all! I wish I’d met Samba Sisters years ago!

Carol

Hi, I'm Carol, a mum and housewife who until September 2006 had never played an instrument in her life! It was then that I went along to some workshops that the Samba Sisters were running.

I had heard them play in the Guid Nychburris parade that year at that was it ... I wanted to do it! I've been in the band ever since and from street playing to Cabaret and Nightclubs in rain, hail or shine - I love it.

The Samba Sisters are a great band of girls and I'm proud to be one of them.

Mim McAvoy

My tastes in music cover quite a large variety, including most genres from classical to heavy metal/hardcore. So when in 2005 I saw a Samba band play in Dumfries High Street, the music hit me hard! I loved the energy, rhythms and spellbinding beats. Some time later a friend introduced me to the Samba Sisters and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Samba Sisters are a great group of women from a mixture of ages and backgrounds. We love playing and socialising together and I can’t imagine my Monday nights without them!

Christine

Christine here. I learnt to drum with ‘South West Samba’ in Castle Douglas and recently have also come to play with the ‘Samba Sisters’. I get addicted to those drum rhythms…. toes still twitch as I go to sleep after samba sessions.

Apart from drumming, I’m a bit of a middle aged adrenaline junky , as I like mountain biking, windsurfing and sailing, which I try to fit into my main life as a self employed potter.