About our band
Samba Doc emerged out of a series of samba workshops that took place in Pembroke Dock throughout the autumn of 2008. The workshops were supported through the communities first music trust fund and music on the move and were led by Fliss Fleck a samba teacher based in West Wales. The purchase of a starter kit of samba instruments was made possible through a small grant from the Communities First Trust Fund.
Since then the band has performed at over 350 public performances and several weddings. We play set pieces but are always learning new ones – each year we have a whole weekend training session with a professional samba musician to extend our repertoire.
About our name
It’s self-explanatory really: Samba – because we play the kind of drums and other percussion instruments found in a typical Brazilian samba batucada and Doc – the Welsh spelling of Dock relating to our home town of Pembroke Dock.
About the instruments
We currently have: sets of Surdo drums of various sizes: samba caixa drums, timbau and repinique drums; a selection of smaller hand percussion instruments including tamborims, agogo and cowbells, triangle and ganza shakers.
About us
We have around 70 active members of all ages and our rehearsals provide a rare opportunity for a truly inter-generational experience. On Thursday evenings we meet in St Teilo’s Church Hall, Pembroke Dock. We are from all over the UK with different backgrounds, and range from accomplished musicians to those with no previous musical experience.
About our repertoire
We play pieces that combine the traditional samba sound with samba reggae, raga, hip-hop and funk influences – when we perform these variety and excitement is created through the development of breaks of varying complexity along with call and response patterns.
We are continually developing new pieces and performance techniques to expand our range for an increasingly crowded gigs list which includes processions and parades at community events around the county, and further afield. We also do workshops and performances at larger events and entertain local wedding guests by request. We can be seen at sporting events such as The Tour of Pembrokeshire and The Long Course Weekend in Tenby etc.