Many people dream of making their living doing something they love, but how many manage it? At age 19 Robbie Verrecchia decided to give it a shot and four years later he’s living his dream - self-employed, drumming, being round lots of people, working with teenagers and teaching.” He’s the leader and beating heart of Jamma de Samba, a collection of samba drums and enthusiasts based in the old Roman city of Bath, England.
Brandishing his trademark whistle and repinique drum, he leads three weekly drop-in samba groups with a loyal core of 30-40 people each, a small group for club performances plus workshops in 240 schools in the area and corporate events. It’s a solid living and it’s growing.
Robbie has been drumming samba for 15 years since his mum Trish was inspired to start up a group. They made do with bins, tins and pans until 2000 when they were able to buy an impressive van-full of real samba drums, thanks to the Arts Council Millennium Fund supporting community projects. The group operated as a collective but gradually dwindled to fewer than a dozen regulars by 2006. Disheartened, he had resolved to leave it and go travelling but a three-month stay in Brazil rekindled his enthusiasm and he decided on a bold move.
“I called a meeting of everybody and told them I wanted to dissolve the collective, take over and run the group as a proper business. I set out my vision to make something massive and set up lots of samba bands.” Despite some opposition, the change was voted through. Then came the hard bit – turning it into a business.
It was all trial and error until he attended an entrepreneur workshop day and was fired up by speaker Eric Edmeades and his five principles. Support from the Prince’s Trust and two business mentors kept him going through hundreds of cold calls and endless driving to meetings. “At the time I was developing it I was getting up at seven and going for a run every morning up to the top of Solsbury Hill and back again … it’s a big hill and I thought, if I can conquer that and be back and shower and have breakfast before nine o’clock, then everything else in the day would be easy.”
Four years on, the results are impressive. Thanks to his skill as a drummer, teacher and leader, he’s able to keep motley groups of enthusiasts tight and on track through complex rhythms and breaks. It’s not just fun and exhilarating, it also has significant health and neurological benefits that are increasingly being discovered in the lab and in practice.
“Sometimes people tell me stories of how the drumming has helped them through difficult times. It’s inspiring.”
