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Drum & Dance Percussion Band from Vienna

About us

SUCAREDO is a Drum & Dance Percussion Band and an association from Vienna. People with very different experience drum together with us. If you are new, you learn the basic beats and later play at our gigs.

Founded
2025
Active members
15
Home
Vienna
Nine members of SUCAREDO dressed in black pose laughing with their drums and sticks on a meadow under trees.
Photo: SUCAREDO

What is samba reggae?

Samba reggae emerged in the mid-1980s in Salvador da Bahia in north-eastern Brazil. It was shaped above all by percussionist Neguinho do Samba as musical director of Olodum: he combined samba with elements of reggae and Caribbean rhythms. With the song “Faraó”, Olodum became famous all over Brazil in 1986 and later around the world, for instance through recordings with Paul Simon (1990) and Michael Jackson (1996).

Olodum is a bloco afro. That is the name for the Afro-Brazilian carnival groups in Salvador that, since the 1970s, have taken Black identity and culture to the streets with large drum groups. Olodum was founded in 1979 in the Pelourinho, Salvador’s old town, and is still a cultural association with social projects today.

Samba reggae can be played on many percussion instruments. The foundation is several surdos that interlock. Besides them we play caixas, repiniques and dobras. Our name is made up of these four instruments: Surdo, Caixa, Repinique, Dobra. A leader guides the group through breaks and changes with whistle and hand signs.

We play this music in Vienna and keep in mind where it comes from.

Our drums

Surdo

The basic beat

The surdo is our biggest and deepest drum. It lays down the basic beat everyone holds on to. You feel it right down in your stomach.

Caixa

The carpet

The caixa is flat, its sound bright and buzzing. It plays a dense carpet of fast strokes that runs underneath everything else.

Repinique

The high melody

The repinique plays the high melody: its sharp strokes set accents you hear above all the others.

Dobra

The low melody

The dobra is the surdo’s mid-sized sister. It answers the repinique with deeper melodies. Together the two lead the dialogue up front.

Since December 2024

Our story

How an idea at a punch stand turned into a band.

  1. Nine friends stand around a high table with mugs of punch at a Viennese Christmas market in the evening, lit stalls and trees behind them.
    Photo: SUCAREDO

    December 2024

    The idea at the Christmas market

    Nine friends meet at a Christmas market in Vienna. All of them have drummed in other percussion bands before and love music and dance. Over a mug of punch they come up with the idea of their own drum band.

  2. Selfie of eight laughing people at a table in a community room, with a laptop, sticks and water bottles on the table.
    Photo: SUCAREDO

    January to March 2025

    From the table to the association

    The first rehearsals take place without any drums: we tap on the tables of community rooms with fingers and sticks and plan everything else on the side. How do we write songs? How do we organise gigs? How do we take in new people? Soon it is clear: we are founding an association. In March 2025 SUCAREDO is officially registered and the first board is elected.

  3. Two women unpack new, shiny silver drums from their bags in a sunny garden.
    Photo: SUCAREDO

    April 2025

    The drums are here

    At last the first delivery of drums arrives! With our first social media post, SUCAREDO is online. Soon after, we find our rehearsal space in Vienna’s 22nd district and rehearse for the first time as a real samba percussion band, with all the instruments.

  4. Five band members in black drum with raised sticks on a stage in front of a dark curtain.
    Photo: Raimund Stefaner

    August 2025

    Our first gig

    Over the summer we write and rehearse our first four songs. In August we take them on stage for the first time: at Dschungel Wien in the MuseumsQuartier. That same year we play at several venues in Vienna, in Upper Austria and in Wiener Neustadt.

  5. The band seen from behind on the stage of U4, arms linked, with purple and gold spotlights in front of them.
    Photo: SUCAREDO

    October 2025

    Halloween at U4 Club

    At Halloween we play the U4 Club, our biggest stage so far. Since then new members have joined and we keep learning new beats.

What we stand for

  • Rhythms we make together

    We develop our rhythms together. Everyone can bring in ideas and, when it fits, take the lead too.

  • Talking clearly and openly

    We say openly what we think and address problems directly. We stay friendly and listen to each other.

  • Criticism that helps

    We tell each other what is not working yet. It is about the matter, not the person. And when something goes well, we say so too.

  • Respect for each other

    We treat each other with respect and value what everyone brings. There is room here for loud and quiet people alike.

  • Onto the stage at your own pace

    First you drum along at gigs where we play more in the background. Later you might join our show formation with choreography.

  • We share responsibility

    Many people pitch in, on stage and behind the scenes. The elected board takes care of the legal duties, and every instrument has a lead who decides when in doubt.

  • We decide together

    We discuss important topics together so every voice is heard. In club elections we vote anonymously.

  • Non-profit

    Nobody earns money from SUCAREDO. Whatever comes in goes into instruments, rehearsals and workshops.

Join the band

Want to play with us? Come to a taster session. If you are completely new to music, a beginner workshop is the easiest start.

Join Us Meet the board