Tocá Rufar

I first came across Tocá Rufar at the Festa de Primavera, CCB in 2004. Came across? Actually, I have been addicted to percussion since early childhood, so when I heard the sound of a mass of drums somewhere in the distance, my feet did the rest. There they were, about 50 drummers, mostly youngsters (the little kid in the right hand front corner, 1st picture was only 6 at that time!), with pefect synchronisation, brilliantly conducted by their mestre, Henda and so obviously having infectious fun that transmitted to the huge audience in the terrace garden.

I started shooting and quickly exhausted all the film I had with me, so that I had to go out and pay ridiculous money from the kiosk near the Padrão dos Descubrimentos (uma dica: DON'T have to buy film from those kinds of places, unless you are as desperate as I was that lunchtime! Outra dica: Go digital, if you haven't already. A 1-gb memory card will save you milhares de €s very quickly!!).
So these are a few of my very first shots of the Rufinas, as they call themselves. I saw them perform 3 times in the space of 5 hours & was amazed at their untiring energy. Every time, the crowd grew larger and just loved it.
In between, I got into a conversation with the founder and Director, Rui Junior. He told me how they had come about, at the time of Expo '98 and later were encouraged to continue. Rui Junior & I became friends that day and some of these pictures were published - with my full authorisation - on the TR website. He started inviting me to go shoot at the HQ in Seixal on rehearsals and countless times in the nearly 2 & a half years since, I have made photo projects of their performances at all kinds of events in Lisbon and passed on the best results to them. The TR leaders now tell me that often the kids will report that 'o fotógrafo estrangeiro' lá estava!' when they get back to base. This is to serve as an intro to my next posting, bringing you right up to date at the most recent event, on Sunday June 18. I guess I should have done this one last, as you see the last entry first. Oh, by the way, I also have TR's authorisation to use my pix of them however I want. It's a mutual love thang.....Tocá Rufar is simply my favourite photographic subject in Lisbon!