We are very honored to have brought maracatu to the Great American Music Hall (for perhaps the first time ever). In addition, this event was be the launch of Maracatu Luta, a new performing group comprised of the more experienced and long-term members of Bateria Lucha which will be specifically focused on maracatu and related rhythms and styles.

We're thrilled to have performed between sets at the CD release party for Lo Cura, a wonderful Bay Area band that's blending flamenco and reggae. We played for a sold-out house, at the peak of the evening between Lo Cura's fantastic set and the performance by Aphrodesia.

The dance floor was packed (we could barely fit onto the floor when we marched out), and the response was fantastic. I made an audio recording of our set. The sound quality isn't ideal since I just placed the recorder off to the side of the stage and didn't have any way to check on it during the set. It definitely sounds a little weird during the first number as we're marching past the thing out onto the front of the dance floor, but it should give you some idea what we sounded like. We played 5 pieces:

This will be the 40th anniversary of a historic march on the Pentagon demanding an end to the Vietnam war. 40 years later, and the U.S. military is bogged down in an even more disasterous occupation. Active duty troops are resisting the war in growing numbers. A clear majority of the U.S. supports withdrawing the troops. However, the stakes are way too high for the U.S. empire to admit defeat and leave, so it's going to take significantly more pressure and action from our side. By continuing to demonstrate, we give confidence to other people that they, too, should move from passive opposition to active resistance. We also support the growing movement of active duty GIs and vets that are against the occupation, since those are the people with the real power to stop the war machine.

Bateria Lucha is honored to have been invited to play on stage at the Labor Rally before the main event, and to lead the Labor "feeder march" over to the Civic Center. So, people who are going to be performing with us need to get to the San Francisco Federal Building by 9:45am so we can get ready before the rally starts at 10:30. After the (short) Labor rally, we'll march (basically around the corner) to the main Civic Center rally site, helping to lead the Labor contingent in chants and songs.

This year, many members of Bateria Lucha marched with Jorge Alabe 's Grupo Samba Rio samba group and Maisa Duke's Energia do Samba in the San Francisco Carnaval 2007 Grand Parade, then played a stage show later in the afternoon.

This year, our "victory" is complicated by the fact that technically, the dancers we accompanied and the musicians were 2 separate contingents. However, in terms of the percussion, we are honored to have won 3rd place for music in the "Brazilian contingents" category! Furthermore, the dance contingent won 3rd place overall for Brazilian contingents. Congratulations to everyone who participated!