Batalá New York is an all women, Black-led, Afrocentric percussion ensemble. The ensemble promotes Afro-Brazilian culture as the product of Black resistance and promotes and collaborates with a network of Afro-Brazilian artists in Bahia, in New York, and around the globe. Batalá New York is also transforming images of women by presenting a loud, fearless, diverse, and resilient community of female drummers. The ensemble performs all over the New York region in concert halls, at community centers, parks and gardens, on the streets, at protests, and at renowned cultural institutions.
Batalá New York is part of a global community of bands playing Afro-Brazilian music under the name of Batalá. While each band is independently owned and operated by the local community of percussionists, all Batalá bands engage in fair trade and collaboration with the same drum makers, textile artists, printmakers, and other artisans in Salvador de Bahia, in northeast Brazil. The Batalá bands principally play Samba Reggae, a world music that incorporates Brazilian Samba and Caribbean Reggae. They play the compositions and arrangements of Mestre Giba Gonçalves, founder of Batalá, and other mestres on metal drums with polymer skins. The bands' music includes rhythms heard throughout the African diaspora and pays homage to traditional Afro-Brazilian music and spirituality. Most of the bands' instruments are worn on the body as they play. Batalá New York performances, with colorful costumes and dynamic choreography, are a high energy, joyful percussive experience.