LA BAMBAWe are the LA Brigade of Activist Musicians, Bands, and Artists!
We haven’t been able to find new leaders to keep LA BAMBA going, so we’ll be archiving this site so others can still use the charts and recordings.
Thanks to our listeners and supporters as well as all the people who played with us!
Have you been wondering what LA BAMBA’s been up to? Here are some updates!
We’re excited to announce our new monthly rehearsal schedule in our brand-new rehearsal spot in Hermon Park (Arroyo Seco Park)! We had a great re-launch on Sunday July 17 at the new space and even enjoyed a few spectators cheering us on. We’ll be gathering every month through the end of the year. Join us! Our next HONK-up happens Aug 15, 2-4p.
If you’ve visited our site recently, you may have been stymied by a bad link to the awesome arrangement of Which Side Are You On? Happy to say that link is now fixed! Click it now for a great video of our inspiring HONK friends Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society playing it with gusto.
We also fixed our contact form!
If you missed our last swag campaign, not to worry: you can join the next batch! We have many styles to choose from, all in eye-catching red-and-black (and you’ll never have to wonder what to wear to rehearsal). Grab yours now!
We had so much fun playing on Election Night 2020 with special guests Renee, Tia, and Annette from the LAX AllStars Cheer team! Here are a few highlights from the evening.
We signed up to #PlayForTheVote! This national effort is organizing musical performances for voters on Election Day with the goal of increasing turnout by providing a more positive experience to look forward to at polling locations across the country! www.PlayForTheVote.com
We will be playing at the Culver City Veterans’ Memorial complex (where we usually rehearse), 4117 Overland Ave (free parking available). We expect to be on at 5pm, with others playing before and after. See you there!
Six styles to choose from! Printed as they are ordered.
Getting ready for more protests, rallies, marches — and the HONK! United festival on August 10-11 — we are going to attempt some virtual HONK-ups! Starting this Sunday, Aug. 30, from 3-5pm PT, we will gather via JamKazam – a platform for musicians to collaborate in real time.
Here’s how to join:
First, sign up for a JamKazam account (current members should already have an invitation in their email inbox).
Download the app, sign in, and search for LA BAMBA in bands. You will see our Aug. 30 session listed! We will have additional sessions on Sept. 13, Sept. 27, and Oct. 4, plus an in-person HONK-up on Sept. 20 (all from 3-5pm). Mark your calendars! (And you can now export these rehearsal dates from our events calendar).
Techie stuff:
JamKazam recommends a hard-wired internet connection (instead of WiFi) to reduce latency. It’s also helpful (but not required) to have an audio interface, headphones, a pick-up or external mic, and tolerant neighbors! Some of us may already have a “silent brass”-type system or (for drummers) electronic drums… if you don’t have such gear, no worries!
Sure, this song is fun to play and dance to, but did you know that this 1978 #1 hit is actually about injustice? According to Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, one of the songwriters, “The subject matter of Stayin’ Alive is actually quite a serious one; It’s about survival in the streets … and the lyrics actually say that.”
We face several existential planetary crises today – from injustice, to the climate crisis, to the current pandemic. We hope that this song will inspire listeners to stand up for justice, tell the truth, and be kind to others.
(For the music trivia nerds reading this: Stayin’ Alive was the first time a drum loop was used on a recording. The Bee Gees sampled the drum track from another song on the same album, Night Fever, and used a two-bar loop through the whole song! Here’s an interesting interview with the producer, Albhy Galuten.)
(mp3 of our arrangement coming soon – below was arranged by Alex Quaintance)
Do You Hear the People Sing? is one of the most famous songs from Les Misérables, the musical first performed in 1980, which was adapted from the Victor Hugo novel published in 1862. The song is performed twice (in Act 1 and at the finale) and is a revolutionary call for people to overcome adversity.
The song is called À la volonté du peuple“, The people’s will, in the original French version.
Originally composed by Claude-Michel Schonberg — but our version was arranged especially for us by Zach Gaston!
We are pleased to unveil our new website, LAHONK.org! This site provides more information about LA BAMBA, with learning tools for our songs (4 up now, 4 to go) and a few photos and videos from our gigs and rehearsals. Soon, we will be adding profile pages for our members and a bit more about our organization and governance.
We look forward to adding pages for the rest of our repertoire and hope that these will be helpful for home practices!
We’d like to thank our sibling bands in Boston – BABAM, School of HONK!, and JP HONK!, for sharing scores and ideas for HONK! band websites.