Toulouse: Samba Résille celebrates its three decades of music this Saturday evening
It is easy to bet that the thirty years of Samba Résille reserve a festive and musical evening for the public. To discover this Saturday evening rue Roquelaine.
To push the door of Samba Résille, rue Roquelaine, is to yield to the desire to move and to travel musically. The place purchased by the City has just been renovated and offers bright spaces, conducive to creation of all kinds. That day, on the terrace, Zambian artists from the Olmo workshop graffiti 3D lettering.
This Saturday, from 6 p.m. to midnight, Samba Résille celebrates with the public its three decades of music and cultural exchanges. Around a neighborhood meal accompanied by groups from Zambia and South Africa for the occasion, with Artscape (Cape Town) and Barefeet (Lusaka). Bareffeet works with street youth and Artscape, one of South Africa’s largest cultural street infrastructure, among others.
The thrilling story of Samba Résille began in 1992, from an initiative born of a group of friends who then wanted to work together around theater and music from elsewhere. After training in batucadas (name given to popular street music in Brazil), they fell in love with samba, this Brazilian tempo with African roots. “At the time, there were few Brazilian percussions in France,” notes Laurent. The group is then quickly requested. And the choice of name for the association is quite natural: it will be Samba Résille”.
Samba Résille: living together as a key word
In 1999, a key stage will determine the future of the Toulouse structure: Samba Résille is commissioned by the Lot-et-Garonne for an “encuentro”, a gathering of Brazilian percussions from all over, organized in Agen and orchestrated by the singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress: Mariane James. “This event will make Samba Résille famous and allow him to receive funds to set up salaried positions”.
Until then based on rue Jean Suau, the association moved in 1998 to 38 rue Roquelaine. Now known for its Brazilian percussion school for young and old, Samba Résille, directed by Hamza Medkouri, is also a space for music and song workshops, concerts, exhibitions, artistic residencies, cultural mediation for all, European and international exchanges and cooperation. In 2012, the association ensured the return of the Toulouse carnival, which has since become an annual event expected by Toulouse residents, with always living together as the watchword.