BRATTLEBORO — On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Echo Restaurant & Lounge, 69-73 Main St., will host its second annual Mardi Gras Party, featuring Celebration Brass Band, with special guests Galera Da Samba, form 7:30 to 10 p.m. There is no cover for this event. Dinner reservations are encouraged.
The Celebration Brass Band has become familiar to Brattleboro-area audiences through performances at numerous Gallery Walks, the Strolling of the Heifers, Fourth of July parades, and a host of other local community events.
With band founder Peter Simoneaux on bass drum and vocals and Linda Simoneaux doing parade marshal duties, CBB features a dynamic cast of Brattleboro area musicians, including co-directors Walter Slowinski (Butterfly Swing) and Ron Kelley (Butterfly Swing) on saxophones, Dan DeWalt (Simba, Creacion) and Chuck Ober (Saylin) on trombones, Anders Burrows (Alafia, Aura Shards) and Sam Johnson on trumpets, Tim Ellis on sousaphone, and Stephen Voorhees on snare drum.
Led by Julian Gerstin and Ron Kelley, Galera Da Samba, the Vermont Jazz Center Samba Ensemble, performs classic samba rhythms from Rio de Janeiro, Bahia Salvador, and other regions of Brazil.
The group will perform on its own and will also join Celebration Brass Band for a couple of numbers, combining the Carnival traditions of Brazil and New Orleans in rarely-heard fusion. (Galera da Samba is actively recruiting new members for its bi-monthly rehearsals at the Jazz Center. Information will be available from group members at this event.)
Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” is an ancient, pre-lenten celebration with pagan roots, celebrated most famously in New Orleans, but also throughout Europe, South America, and the Caribbean as Carnival, Carnivale, or Shrove Tuesday.
The Carnival season begins annually on Epiphany, or the 12th night after Christmas, and reaches its climax on Mardi Gras Day, the day before Ash Wednesday, falling this year on Feb. 25.