Bah Samba

2015 saw the first full live performance on the Summer Soulstice main stage in five years and who better to have graced the occasion than the mighty Bah Samba!..

The line-up on the day was also made up of the members from Portuguese trio, The Illumination Experience (T.I.E.), who bought their own latin influenced dynamics to proceedings.

Supporters of the worldwide critically acclaimed Bah Samba include many dance music heavyweights among them, Masters At Work, DJ Spen, Quentin Harris, Danny Rampling, Danny Krivit, Sean McCabe and many more.While over the years they have worked with a stream of great names including Alexander O Neal, Osunlade, Modaji, DJ Spinna, Bill Curtis & the Fatback Band, J’Kriv from Tortured Soul to name a few.

In early 1996 Julian Bendall, Kevin Alexanda & Geoff Holroyd (the surnames of which make up the Bah bit) formed a loose group of naturally talented musicians to play live and possibly record a few songs, whilst experimenting with the fusion of traditional musicianship, dance and modern recording techniques.

Their debut single ‘Carnival’ on Loaded Records was followed by the classic, ‘Reach Inside’ and they subsequently enjoyed numerous singles on Estereo Records. In 2001 Bah Samba released their self-titled debut album, followed by the ‘Latin Lounge Session’ and their mixed album titled ‘Eclectica Volume 1’ in 2004. ‘Bah Samba 4’ (BKO) was released in 2005, spawning soulful hits including ‘Portuguese Love’ and ‘Calma’ ft. Isabel Fructuoso.

In the Summer of 2009 they unleashed the seasonal delight ‘Live In The Summer’ ft. Tasita D’Mour on vocals and is a firm favourite at the event! A year later Bah Samba released ‘Don’t Let Them Get You Down’ and performed a string of live concerts with jazz ledge Roy Ayers and this resulted in them recording and releasing the feel-good Summer anthem ‘Positive Vibe’. Their 2013 single ‘God Showed Me The Way’ featured the enigmatic vocals of Riqo Almeida from T.I.E. and was subsequently remixed by the mighty Incognito.

Bah Samba continue to enjoy success with their diverse style which is always significant and predominantly taken from a soul, Latin, funk, disco, boogie, jazz and classical background, emphasising on great songs. They bought all these flavours and qualities to the show at Summer Soulstice, much to the everyone’s pleasure that day!