Well, I’ve been waiting 10 years for this, and it’s just about as much fun as it has always looked. Went to see what the whole Samba band thing was that was going on down at University of York.

It’s great! I took my earplugs but was reluctant to wear them cos it sounded so great. When there was a row of a dozen people on my left with tambourims , I had to succumb, and put in my left earplug. When we finished that song, my right ear was whistling!

It works pretty much like I’d guessed. There’s a call and answer where the band leader sets the tempo with his call, and the whole band responds to say “yup, I’m ready”, then you break into the rhythm. The leader can signal variations, a bridge, back to the top, or finish, and counts down a few bars while making sure everyone’s paying attention, then blows the whistle on the last bar and we all change.

Definitely will be doing this again! I had a go on a timba which is really loud, but completely impossible to hear amongst all the instruments that are played with sticks, and some agogo bells