SAC TICKET

By adding dance to its groove, SambaDá has tapped into a special music mix. By Jim Carnes - Bee Staff Writer

A performance by SambaDá is a lively mix of music and movement. The group has one foot firmly rooted in California and the other in the cultural traditions of Brazil.

It has taken 10 years, but SambaDá has finally found its unique voice. Begun in 1997 in Santa Cruz by Brazilian Papiba Godinho, the band became a club-circuit favorite with its high-energy percussion and danceable grooves. Now, with the addition of dancer Dandha da Hora, a member of the Ile Aiye music group since she was 6, the band has brought African rhythms, salsa, funk, hip-hop and rock into its potent mix.

"Ile Aiye" means "house of life" in the African Yoruba language. The music group, inspired by the black power movement in the United States, was founded in 1974. It stresses self-esteem through education and training in music and tradition. Da Hora danced with the company in 1975 when it became the first Afro group to march in a Brazilian Carnival parade.

In addition to the two Brazilian members, SambaDá includes drummer Gary Kehoe from Minnesota and four Californians: saxophonist Anne Stafford of Sonoma County; bassist Kevin "Pescador" Dorn and percussionist Marcel Menard, both from the Los Angeles area; and percussionist Will Kahn, a native of Bolinas.

Kahn had played drums for a Brazilian dance class in Bolinas for about a year before he moved to Santa Cruz to go to college and joined the nascent SambaDá, he said in a recent telephone interview.

"There has been a long evolution of the band," Kahn said. "Brazilian music, obviously, is at the core, but we mix in so many things to reflect the personalities and interests of all the members.

"When you think of Brazilian music, there are the classic styles that immediately come to mind: samba and bossa nova. But contemporary Brazilian music is truly world music," he said. "There are Brazilian funk bands and hip-hop bands and rock bands. Marcello D2 is a hip-hop artist who mixes beats and raps over samba sound loops. And Sepultura is a hard-rock metal band.

"Everything you hear in our music -- reggae, ska, hip-hop, funk -- you will easily hear in Brazil today."

SambaDá's music is bright with horns, beat-intensive and funky in the best dance-band manner. But its concerts are more than just a musical performance, Kahn said.

"We had to establish ourselves as a musical band, a club band, first, and now we're integrating music and dance," he said. Godinho is founder of the Raizes do Brasil Capoeira School. During musical numbers, he performs capoeira, the Brazilian dance style of African origin that incorporates martial arts movements such as kicks and chops. Da Hora is a dancer, singer and percussionist, and teaches Afro-Brazilian dance in the Bay Area.

Kahn, 27, is the group's youngest member (the oldest is 53), but it was Menard, 32, who brought hip-hop to SambaDá, Kahn said. "He grew up in L.A., listening to it, so it's a natural part of his musical being."

"It's important to me to really understand what I'm presenting," Kahn said. "I love 'world music' in the sense of 'music of the world,' but I hate the world music 'smoothie,' where it's everything and nothing at the same time.

"We pay respect to where the music comes from. We stick to our roots and avoid shaping our music to the market." (For the most part, the band's lyrics are in Portuguese, not English.)

Kahn said, "I want to show respect to the music and hold the people who created and maintain it in high esteem. There's a deep connection between us and what we do.

"We're trying to get people to listen to us who might not listen to Brazilian music. Brazil is very ethnically diverse and the music reflects the various cultures. We're about breaking barriers. And making music that makes people want to dance."