Mimos Dixie Band adds extra colours to Bahrain Grand Prix

Manama : If you move around BIC, particularly at the Vending area and your attention is caught by a group of seven energetic youngsters playing around with their instruments, don’t be confused. They are the ‘Mimos Dixie Band’ one of the main attractions at the entertainment area of Formula One. They don’t utter a word, nor respond to any of the spectators, but they go on entertaining people around.

DT News spent some time with this team, originally from Portuguese.  They have been performing many shows all around the world. 

“It all started over a cup of coffee. We, as a team were hobbyists and were trying our best to come out to be professionals. The whole show was just a traditional one until the crowd gave us the encouragement to step forwards as professionals. We decided to form as a group, six years before and now we are here at the Formula One grand Prix for the first time”, Andre, the team leader, said.

The team consists of seven members, all at their mid-20s. Joan, on the instrument Banjo (a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity as a resonator), Andre on Tuba (The largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family), Luish on instrument clarinet (an instrument  belonging to woodwind instruments family), Carlos on instrument trumpet (the highest register in the brass family), Estima on percussion, David on the Washboard (used as a percussion instrument) and Andre on Trombone (a musical instrument in the brass family).

“This is our first show in a Formula one Entertainment area.  We were surprised and astonished because we do not know how the people will react to our play here. For the past six years we have been playing in streets and stage shows at Portuguese,” Andre said.   

He added, “The difference what we feel from normal shows and here at the F1 is the time-intervals for our plays.  Usually, when we do short plays or stage shows, we have enough time to prepare for that on-at-go show, but here we are on time interval basis. We perform at least five to six shows per day”.

The Mimos Dixie Band said they were hoping to perform next year too.  The band added that the best thing they felt about the audience in Bahrain is that they are active and participate with the performers of the show.