This Friday, the England football team will be playing Brazil at Wembley Stadium. Brazil’s fans are famous for their enthusiastic support of their team and samba music is a key part of their celebrations. In Brazil, samba bands – or the bateria – are a must when it comes to carnival and the drumming has traditionally been a masculine pursuit. But here, as more and more samba outfits have sprung up around the country, British women are becoming involved in samba percussion. Georja Calvin-Smith speaks to the Latin American music journalist, Sue Steward, about the music’s history and met members of a Manchester-based samba band.
