2022 – It’s A Wrap!
We share the highlights of an amazing year. Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us!
2022 – It’s A Wrap!
We share the highlights of an amazing year. Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us!
We are excited to be looking back on a year of significant growth here at Katumba, both in terms of our core team, and our activities and network.
We would like to thank our band members new and established, our partners and community, our clients and everyone who has interacted with us in the streets and venues where we have made ourselves very known!
We’ve also seen growth in our online world, where we have been able to find our activities a wider audience, consolidate some of our existing connections and use our voice within a global network.
Not to mention share the beautiful images and videos that emerge from our performances, workshops, trips, tours and classes.
Looking ahead, we would like to manifest even more opportunities for connection and performance, and for unlocking health and wellbeing through music and movement.
Check out our Guide here to find out how to book us. There is an option for every size and style of event.
We help you out with everything you need to know, and offer all the creative support you need when working out your ultimate styling and performance type.
Choose from one of our most popular aesthetics – or create your own!
And now, we are delighted to present to you our top ten outstanding moments of an amazing year.
We hope you enjoy reviewing them, and we wish you a fantastic year ahead!
1. We took over the City Centre!
Our 2022 programme of creative workshops culminating in the fantabulous Halloween parade as part of the official Liverpool Black History Month programme was our biggest and best yet, with an audience of 4,000 and 185 performers.
This year we deepened our theme of Climate Crisis and introduced new elements including a troupe of dazzling LED dresses by Karen Scott, an illuminated cycling mass and live band Dogshow performing atop the sustainably-powered trike + LED lighting installation.
Click here to see our brand new Halloween video!
Read about our annual Halloween programme here.
Check out this year’s Halloween photography gallery here.
Read Katumba’s hot take on Climate Change and the role of the arts in creating action on it here.
2. We rocked it with GB Champions!
One of the most thrilling moments of the year – for the whole world – was the World Gymnastics Championships, and this year of course, it was hosted right here in Liverpool.
For us it was the experience of a lifetime, because (drum roll!) we performed at the after party!
And after the Gold medal Jessica Gadirova earned for her incredible floor routine sealed the deal for Great Britain to surpass their old record of five medals at a World Championship, with six medals achieved over the week, and Britain achieved its best ever performance overall at the World Championships, you can imagine what a party that was.
See our exclusive video of our champions dancing the conga and read more about this awe inspiring competition here.
3. We went on tour!
We loved taking the Katumba experience around the country this year. Being on tour is a wonderful bonding experience and we always have a lot of fun.
Highlights include taking thirty community drummers to the Freedom Festival, Hull’s world class nine day arts programme.
We also loved our epic summer adventure taking the show band to the Isle of Man to lead the Douglas Carnival, which was making a return after a three-year hiatus.
We were overjoyed to help them christen their brand-new cultural area as part of the redevelopment of the capital’s Promenade.
We also had a mini tour of the southwest, bringing our carnival vibes in full force to Revolucion de Cuba’s fabulous bars in Bristol and Cardiff.
See our tour reel on insta here. Vibe check, passed!
4. We contributed to Mandela Week!
We were honoured to take part in Liverpool’s first Mandela Week, run by Mandela 8, this summer.
We led the Parade through Princes Park on Mandela Day itself on 18 July, and performed at the Freedom Festival on 23 July.
We are so proud of Mandela 8 and the work they do to and were thrilled to be involved.
Mandela 8 is an organisation that exist to celebrate, commemorate, and pursue the legacy of Nelson Mandela’s outstanding achievement for humanity here in Liverpool.
“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” Nelson Mandela
Find out more about Mandela8 here.
There is an interview with Sonia Bassey, Chair of Mandela 8, which explains the connection between Mandela and Liverpool here.
5. We reached the finals for a Liverpool City Region award that recognises our core reason for existing!
This year we joined some incredible Liverpool organisations in reaching the finals of the Health & Wellbeing Award.
The winner will be announced in Spring 2023 at Liverpool City Region’s Culture and Creativity Awards.
We are HUGE believers in the transformation that the physical and spiritual creativity and wellbeing that drumming, movement and culture brings. This energy and belief are the fundamental power that we run on, as you all know!
So we are delighted and incredibly grateful to be recognised by this award nomination. We shall see what 2023 brings! Well done everyone.
Read more here.
6. We drummed 5,000 Santa’s over the finish line!
Of course no list of Katumba highlights would be complete without mention of the Liverpool Santa Dash, the city centre event that launches Christmas for 5,000 Santas and their supporters in the crowds.
We were in awe once again at the scale and energy of the Liverpool Santa Dash – the biggest and longest established Santa Run in the UK!
This year this incredible event raised funds for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, for a new, state of the art £3M Surgical Neonatal Unit for newborn babies and their families.
Read more about the Dash here.
7. We smashed it at Pride across the North!
Celebrating 50 years since the first UK Pride Protest, our sea of rainbow drummers performed as part of Liverpool, Manchester AND Birmingham Pride this year!
Carnival is an act of protest. We loved being out in full force for all LGBTQ+ peoples within our staff team, band, community, Liverpool and across the globe – in true Katumba style; diverse, inclusive, colourful, loud and proud!
Watch us here.
8. We celebrated thirty years of Africa Oyé!
Africa Oyé Festival is the largest celebration of live African music in the UK and much loved by the people of Liverpool, due to the incredible line ups and the fact that it has remained free throughout its existence, making it the most accessible music festival we have ever heard of, ever!
Originally a smaller, multi-venue event, Oyé now attracts over fifty thousand people every June to Liverpool’s Sefton Park, and was in fine fettle celebrating its 30th birthday this year!
We are HUGE fans of Oyé and we enjoyed no less than three performances over the two day event.
We partied there in the way we love to the most – in amongst the crowds, our favourite place to be!
Watch our video here
9. We went viral!
It already happened on Twitter with a powerful moment on the steps of St George’s Hall, Liverpool, back in 2020 for the Black Lives Matter march was shared by Ross Quinn
And this year, we reached an incredible number of people with our message of energy, joy and protest with viral levels of exposure across three out of four of our social media channels.
Check out the posts that made it happen on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube!
Connect with us via your socials here:
TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
10. We doubled our core team!
We hardly recognise ourselves as this year the core Katumba team actually doubled in numbers!
We welcomed on board Tamasin as Operations and Finance Manager, Alessia as our Company Administrator, and Lucy as our Website and Marketing Officer.
We are delighted to be more empowered than ever to fulfil our goals for Katumba!
After a lively programme of performances all year, not surprisingly the band has also increased in members – we are sure we have several new superstar drummers in the making!
Have you ever had a hankering to give the drums a go? We strongly urge you to come to one of our taster sessions in 2023 and scratch that itch! Just ask yourself, what is the BEST that can happen?
Keen for a high energy party band, conference ice breaker our team building workshop? We’re now taking bookings for 2023!
