Congratulations go to Xavi, Paul and Marcelo who won the London School of Samba Samba de Enredo competition held at Barrio East in Shoreditch on Tuesday 15th March, with their song titled: Embaixo do arco-iris existe Samba, Magia e Alegria (Under the rainbow there is Samba, Magic and Happiness).

 

The evening was compèred by Steve Fox and Maria Cecilia. We had our musical director Chris Mullins-Silverstein, our previous musical director Tristan Daws, and Leandro Brizad as judges, with the London School of Samba members’ votes counting as the fourth judge.

 

Our bateria, led by Mestre Fred, warmed us up and were joined by our Mestre Sala and Porta Bandeira, Marcelo and Davina.

 

The first song performance was O Arco Íris Chegou (The Rainbow has Come) written by Gregory Cowan, Glow Crawford, Io-anna Laranjinha, Ana Sanches and Mariana Whitehouse. It was sung by Ivy Lemos, Glow, Io-anna and Gregory (who also played cavaquinho).

 

Next to perform was Alex Talbot with his own song Um explosão de cor! (Uma forca da natureza!) (An explosion of colour! (A force of nature!)). Alex sang and played cavaquinho.

 

Then Xavier Osmir, Paul Rumbol and Marcelo Andrade took to the stage to perform their song Embaixo do arco-iris existe Samba, Magia e Alegria
(Under the rainbow there is Samba, Magic and Happiness)
, with Xavier on vocals, Paul on cavaquinho and vocals, and Marcelo on flute and vocals.

 

The final performance was the song Milagres no Arco Iris de Londres (Miracles in the Rainbow from London) written by Caïque De Souza, John Hicks and Nuno Marcelino, performed by John on vocals and Luna Silva on cavaquinho.

 

The judges then went off to make their decision, and the members voted for their favourite. When a decision had been reached, the bateria came back and performed for us and were joined by some of our dancers. All entrants were asked to come on to the stage, and the winning entry was announced as Embaixo do arco-iris existe Samba, Magia e Alegria (Under the rainbow there is Samba, Magic and Happiness) by Xavier, Paul and Marcelo, who were presented with a bottle of Pitú cachaca by Asia. They then performed their winning song again for us.

 

This is the 3rd win in a row for Xavi and Paul, having won in 2014, 2015 and 2016. This is the 16th time that Paul has been involved in writing a winning samba for us, and the 15th for Xavi. A great achievement, and outstanding contribution to the London School of Samba

 

It was a really great night, with four fantastic songs. Well done to all the performers and songwriters, and congratulations to Xavi, Paul and Marcelo

 


If you weren’t able to make it along on the night, then you can see videos from the night taken by Mestre Fred and Petula Jojo Sambina below, and a gallery of photos taken by Barrio’s photographer on facebook.


Video of all the perfomances by Fred.


Video of bateria with mestre sala and porta bandeira by Petula Jojo Sambina

1st song videod by Petula Jojo Sambina

2nd song videod by Petula Jojo Sambina

3rd song (winners) videod by Petula Jojo Sambina

4th song videod by Petula Jojo Sambina