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Day 5 - CARNIVAL TIME!

Playing for the
Cuban Carnival
I honestly could not WAIT for the Cuban Carnival to start, we were all so pumped! I was a bit apprehensive too, because I very rarely dance in public if at all. Barak, our mentor, brought along the tacky coloured beads to hand out to the "audience". After a final rehearsal in the morning, we took the afternoon off so that we would have plenty of energy for a real party at Laban! I made sure I didn't exhaust my chops as I knew I would need to be able to really tank it at certain points during the carnival.
Getting in the
conga groove
When the time came, after the initial awe at what was happening, it was awesome to see so many people getting involved in the atmosphere! Apparently it was quite authentic with some people relaxing due to alcohol consumption and it was all a bit chaotic but incredible fun. As we processed through the corridor the first time things died down a tad but when we did it all over again a couple of hours later, we trumpets kept the singing and cheering going whilst everyone paraded through to the second corridor where we joined in for one last racing conga.
The Mozambique set in the studio was well attended and although felt more like a
performance, I had adjusted to the relaxed vibe of conga music by this point so didn't feel nervous and simply enjoyed playing music with some greatly open-minded artists. It's been such a great week full of enthusiasm, excitement and new experiences and friends; I've improved in my rhythmical playing, approach to performing and even noticed a difference in my dancing!

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