In its first edition, Rhythms Nights (Saturday 3rd November at Scala from 7:00pm onwards) offers a selection of live performances from Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia; and a remarkable mix of DJs to make everyone dance all night long.

Through this event, Discovering Latin America is raising funds for Promujer® Nicaragua, a charity providing micro-finance, business training and health support to poor women in rural communities of Nicaragua.

Rhythms Nights offers three different spaces: 1) a Brazilian lounge with chill out music, 2) a main stage with performances as well as Latin urban and Salsa beats, and 3) a third space, the Balcony bar, presenting a Samba workshop followed by reggaeton, funk, soul and R’n’B music. In addition, visitors will get the chance to enjoy installations about the “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) including traditional Mexican and Bolivian altars and paintings.

DJ SETS

1) Brazilian Lounge
DJ Limao (usually resident in Guanabara) is well-known on both the European and Brazilian music scenes. With carnivalesque tunes, from Samba to New-Brazil with latest remixes thrown in, Limao will keep the dance floor in a state of constant evolution and excitement.

For this room, DJ Ben V will focus on original Latin and Brazilian sounds, while recognising the impact such music has had on European and North American artists, merging music from then and now. He has played before at 3 Blind Mice, Rhythm Factory and Eugenesis.

DJ Celsius will be playing Brazilian and funk beats, welcoming everyone in the Brazilian Lounge.

2) Main Stage
DJ Julian Mister M who usually plays for Latin Night at Ministry of Sound, Bar Salsa, Sway Club, will be playing salsa, meringue, bachata, reggaeton and urban Latin Rhythms.

DJ Limao (usual resident of Guanabara) will play again in the main stage, focusing on the urban Rhythms of the Brazilian night life at Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.

3) Balcony Bar
DJ Tiz is a member of the Latin Collective organisation, developing a reputation as the hottest new talent in the UK Latin music scene. At Rhythms Nights, he will blend a wide variety of classic RnB and soul with traditional and modern Latin based touches

DJ Sol is one of the most sought after Salsa DJs on the Cuban scene in London; DJ Sol’s passion for salsa goes as far back as 12 years. At the Balcony bar, he will close the night by playing reggeaton and other salsa Latin beats such as Colombian, Puerto Rican and Cuban salsa.

LIVE PERFORMANCES (7:30PM TO 11:00 PM)

- 7:30pm: Comunidad Ambaibo will open the night performing some pre-hispanic sounds and music related to indigenous’ perceptions of life and death. Followed by the Morenada Bloque Kantuta, presenting one of the most popular and magnificent of the dances of Bolivia: the ‘Morenada’.

- 8:15pm: Ambaibo will present a repertoire on Andean music, including rhythms representative of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

- 9:00pm: Maracatu Estrela do Norte: a vibrant drumming band which plays folkloric music (Maracatu de Baque Virado) from Pernambuco (north-east of Brazil) with lively modern rhythms. Their performance will include the energetic sounds of authentic Brazilian instruments: the Gonguê (the Maracatu bell), the Abê (a Maracatu shaker), the Caixa (the Maracatu snare drum) and the Alfaia/ Bombo (the Maracatu bass drum)

- 10:00 pm: La Papayera: traditional Colombian music. Angelica’s Papayera has broken the boundaries of traditional papayera and introduced different instruments. Among those are the Gaita –a leather percussion instrument, the clarinet and the accordion. Papayera’s performance will make everyone dance at the rhythms of cumbia, vallenato, fandango, porro and salsa

INSTALLATION
The main theme of the night is the Day of Dead traditional celebrations of Latin America. “Dias de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) is one of the biggest celebration of the year in some Latin American countries. It is based on a combination of indigenous and catholic belief. Once a year, on November the 1st and the 2nd, families honour the memory of their members and friends who have passed away by flowering and visiting cemeteries and by decorating altars in their house with pictures, flowers, food and objects that their loved ones used to enjoy. It is a very colourful celebration, accompanied by prayers and songs. During our event, we will be recreating two altars, a Bolivian and a Mexican, so as to recreate the traditional atmosphere of this particular day and to let everyone share this practice.

WORKSHOP
At 7:00pm Romero de Mangueira, one of the most respected and oldest samba schools in Rio, will open the night with a samba workshop for beginners. His style is to teach authentic samba from Rio de Janeiro. Technically, samba starts with “samba no pe” and ends in “samba no pe”, foot samba with your feet moving fast and the whole body shaking. Samba is not just a form of music and dance. This workshop will offer the audience an opportunity to feel the rhythm, liberate themselves and understand why people in favelas in Rio never forget to smile at life’s hardships.

Discovering Latin America (DLA) is a UK-based charitable organisation (reg.no.1106705) which aims to promote Latin American culture worldwide and raise funds to finance development projects in the region.
Promujer® provides Nicaragua’s poorest women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training and healthcare support.
Specifically, all the proceeds from Rhythms Nights will help Promujer® to buy basic medical equipment and to introduce a new educational well-being programme for these women.
For more information, please visit www.discoveringlatinamerica.org or www.promujer.org

Scala – 275 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London
Admission: £9 in advance and concessions, £10 on the door
Tickets:www.ticketweb.co.uk, 08700-600-100 or
Scala’s box office between 10 am and 6pm Monday to Friday