When I was in Miami in September I attended a workshop given by one of my favourite Cuban bands, Sintesis. Sintesis fuse rock and other contemporary genres with traditional Afro Cuban music. They use bata drums as part of their percussive sound. Bata drums, when used in Afro Cuban religious ceremonies are only played by men. Here are a couple of pictures of some members of the band at the workshop which took place at the Copperbridge Foundation. Yaimi Karell is on bata, and is also professor of percussion at a University in Cuba:
Back in 2008 I went to Cuba with The London Lucumi Choir to participate in singing workshops with live percussion. Here are some pictures with Aleida; a couple of which also show her with her baby granddaughter:
Next are images of women bata players in the UK; first up is Vickey Jassey of Bombo Productions:
UK female bata players to name just a few: Lee Crisp, Collette Boardman, Karen Sherrard. Also in the photos are Julie Lou, Sandra Morales Cordovez and Philippa Barrett. The dog is called Herb!
And finally Daniela Rosselson, managing to play bata, conduct the Lucumi Choir rehearsal and look after her granddaughter at same time!
