Lancaster Band to Storm the Castle

The 60-strong Lancaster band will be joined by 40 Batala drummers from sister bands Batala Manchester, Batala Mersey, Batala Bangor, Batala London, Batala Portsmouth, Batala Boom (Austria) and Batala Brasil. The 100-strong band will perform at 12:30 and 2:30pm in Lancaster Castle grounds, headlining the festival’s World Music Day.

The weekend marks the end of a fantastic season of gigs for the band, including Lancaster Pride, Kendal Calling, Lancaster Chinese New Year and Preston Carribean Carnival. Lancaster drummers have also played at Cork St Patrick’s Day Parade, Debrecen Flower Festival in Hungary, and Badajoz Carnival in Spain as part of the worldwide Batala Mundo project this year. A further highlight for the band was their annual visit to Notting Hill Carnival, where Batala was placed first in Brazilian Bands for the third year running.

Manda Johnson-Holme, a member of Batala Lancaster since 2006 and one of the anniversary event organising team, said: “We always enjoy playing at Lancaster Music Festival. It has an amazing atmosphere and is a brilliant event to be part of, but to be able to perform at the Castle and headline World Music Day on our anniversary year promises to be something really special. We’d like to thank the Duchy and Lancaster Music Festival for allowing us to make this happen.”

Find out more about Batala Lancaster, the band’s history, and what they have planned to celebrate their anniversary at: https://batalalancaster.com/20th-anniversary/