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Background Information
The rhythms of samba bands are heard everywhere in Brazil. All kinds of different percussion instruments are thumped, tapped and scraped to make shifting patterns of overlapping sound. The great thing about it is that everyone can join in and find their own rhythm. There are even samba schools to learn about the music and dance moves, and competitions for the best dance school. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, there's a stadium devoted to samba competitions – the Sambodrome.
Rio is a big, exciting city, but it has more than its fair share of problems. Drugs and gun crime have made life very difficult. There are many street kids, with no homes or families. The poorest areas of the city are called favelas or 'shanty towns', where people make homes from whatever scrap materials they can find.
Vigário Geral is a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro – and that's where the kids' band AfroLata comes from. In 1993, masked men came to Vigário Geral and gunned down 21 innocent people, including two children. Since then, the people of the favela have tried to give the place a new start. AfroLata have been part of this, bringing some hope, colour and happiness to the lives of kids in a tough area. The band now has over 20 members, who began by making their own percussion instruments from scrap.
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