Rhythms of the City / Ritmos da Cidade is the samba bateria (street percussion band) of the F-ire Collective and of City University music department. the band exists to allow students to play and learn alongside professionals, and to perform outdoor community music styles in the environments appropriate to them. It is open to all serious students of carnival music.

Our main output is Rio-Style samba, whose training and rehearsing continues throughout the year. In addition, extra projects in other specific styles are occasionally undertaken - recently we have given the bateria treatment to a variety of West-African and Cuban styles, as well as our own-brand Funk and Samba Reggae.

Rhythms of the City performs with 5-55 players, depending on the demands of the particular event. In parades and for large projects we work with our partners - dancers Flame Latin Dance, carnival costume designers and performers Mandinga Arts, our regular brass section and the in-house singers and guitars from F-ire collective's Grupo Sambando.

Members of the bateria are drawn mostly from past and present students of the London music colleges and university music departments (RAM, RCM, Trinity, Guildhall, City, Middlesex…), the band is truly the outdoor expression of our London life, interacting with the many different communities around F-ire in carnivals, festivals, clubs and education projects. Our own youth bateria União da Mocidade began in 2003, co-ordiniated and taught by professionals within Rhythms of the City.

Rhythms of the City averages 35 performances each year and has performed at Notting Hill Carnival, at WOMAD, Respect, Coin Street, Rhythmsticks, Thames and Islington festivals, Cargo, Carnaval del Pueblo, Pride, Shepherd’s Bush Empire and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as a multitude of local festivals and charity events in the UK and abroad.

If you are interested in joining our training program, please contact us.