WOMAD

Bloco Electro

From United Kingdom

Bloco Electro is a 5 piece percussion group that explores the ground where tradition and technology collide. They make exciting music that combines the raw energy of a live drumming group with contemporary dance club sounds. The group plays a mixture of traditional acoustic drums such as timba, congas, djembes, bongos and kit. They combine the traditional rhythms normally played on those drums with new beats played on contemporary electronic percussion. The sound is further enhanced by a collection of quirky retro drum pads and beatboxes ranging from classic 80s Simmons pads to the original Pearl Syncussion and the downright weird Synare and JHS Drum Synth. Over the last 2 years the band has been experimenting and developing its unique sound with gigs at small UK festivals and in clubs around Reading. bloco electro is led by Gavin Lombos (Handsonic/NI Battery & Timbales) supported by Lucy Lombos (DrumX pads & bassines), Mike Jacob (congas, African percussion & electronic pads), Dave Ponsford (Timba, Bongos, bells & Simmons Pads) and Paul Eccles (drum kit). The group started life as a project created by Gavin Lombos with fellow members of beatroots bateria (Reading’s Samba band). Beatroots have been entertaining audiences at carnivals, festivals and events all over the country for the last 8 years or so, including leading many of the Rivermead WOMAD festival processions. Playing in beatroots created opportunities for band members to learn rhythms first hand from master drummers from Bahia, Rio, Jamaica, Venezuela and Tanzania as well as performing tried and tested rhythms to audiences all over the country from a few hundred at a village event to tens of thousands on London’s South Bank. Aside from playing in Beatroots and bloco electro, Gavin Lombos has toured and recorded with UK Punjabi drum group - the ‘Dhol Foundation’ and funky French global-techno-heads ‘Recycler’. “The idea for bloco electro grew from doing live sets with the Dhol Foundation and Recycler using backing tracks. We have ditched the DATs in favour of creating a totally live sound using both acoustic and electronic drums to trigger basslines, riffs and samples. Our sample collection includes sounds recorded by band members on their travels in Cuba, north and west Africa and China as well as stuff I’ve created over in the studio. In the last year, the technology has finally allowed us to realise our sonic potential, replacing a rack of samplers and synths with a laptop and some software!” – Gavin LombosFellow band member Mike Jacob spent 4 months at the end of 2003 living in Kokrobite in Ghana learning traditional and ritual west African rhythms at the African Academy of Musical Arts, as well as playing and recording with members of the Diabate family from Burkina Faso. New bloco tracks developed from African kpanlogo beats are in the pipeline. A collaborative bloco electro/Diabate drummers recording project is planned for 2005.Larger live shows often feature guest collaborators including spoken words from Roger Robinson (performance poet), dance from Lati Saka (contemporary African dancer/choreographer), dub FX and vocals from Skully Roots and guest percussionists from Alaap, Transglobal Underground and the Bollywood Brass Band.