Media Contact:  Phyllis Jones
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The final show in the Saint Elizabeths Hospital 5th Annual Summer Concert Series is scheduled for August11 with a performance by Batalá, an all-women percussion band that plays Afro-Brazilian/Samba-Reggae rhythms. Free and open to the public, the concert starts at 7 pm on the Hospital grounds, 1100 Alabama Ave SE, near the Alabama Avenue Metro Station. 

Held every week since June, the concerts at Saint Elizabeths showcase a variety of music, including jazz, country, classical, rock, Top 40 and much more. Batalá is a samba-reggae drumcorps that plays rhythms typical of the northeastern region of Brazil. It is rooted in traditional African drumming.

Batalá was started in 2007 in Washington DC, and is part of an international Batalá family formed in Paris in 1997. More than 75 women are in the DC band from countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.  Its mission is to empower women through drumming and to expose communities to Brazil’s music and culture. The band also operates a community outreach project to teach samba-reggae rhythms and dance to youth in the metropolitan area.

“The concerts have attracted a huge following and we look forward each year to enjoying them with our family, friends and neighbors,” said Stephen T. Baron, Director of the Department of Mental Health which operates Saint Elizabeths Hospital. “It’s also a good way to celebrate music therapy as a mechanism for healing and expression.”

For more information or to RSVP for the Batalá concert, call 299-5437. Saint Elizabeths Hospital is a non-smoking campus.  To maintain the privacy of individuals in care, cameras are not permitted on campus.