African Influences in Brazilian Music

Slave Trade

•1538-1850: approx. 3.5 million slaves from Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Mozambique (incl.Yoruba, Ewe, Fon).

•1850: slave trade abolished

•1871: Law of the Free Womb

•1888: Slavery abolished

General Characteristics of West African/Afro-Brazilian Music

• Dense textures

• Interlock

• Rhythmic complexity (polyrhythm)

• Open-ended forms

• Structure based on melodic/rhythmic ostinato patterns

• Music as means of communal participation

Candomblé

Aspects of Candomblé

• Afro-Brazilian religion• Worship of hierarchy of orixás: deities• Ceremonies: involves dancing, drumming,

singing (in Yoruban), to invite orixás to manifest (spirit possession)

• Musical characteristics:– Call and response– Polyrhythms– Open-ended forms– Specific rhythms for each orixá– Hierarchy of drums

Master Drummer

• Candomblé: three drums (atabaque) in hierarchical relationship; directed by master drummer

• Is oldest male initiate,lead singer,plays any drum he desires; responsible for facilitating spirit possession

• Plays improvised patterns against rhythmic ostinato patterns of other drums

• Drums considered sacred: “drum baptism”

Capoeira

Afro-Brazilian art form combining music, dance and martial arts

Capoeira

• Instruments: – Berimbau: musical bow

with shaker– Pandeiro: similar to

tambourine, played with hands

– Atabaque drums: similar to conga drums, played with hands

– Agógô: double-headed cowbell, struck with stick

Roda de Capoeira

• Jogar = body play– Ginga = basic movement

• Tocar = musical play – Lead berimbau plays “toques” (rhythmic

patterns)– Directs course of the “game”

• Brincar = verbal play (improvised song lyrics with stock refrains)

• Malícia=cunning, trickery (ex. Benção)

Samba“Tudo acaba em samba”

• Afro-Brazilian urban popular song/dance form

• Origins in rural roda de samba:– Participatory– Accompanied by improvised songs and

percussion instruments– Style: syncopated, call and response vocals,

open-ended forms, musical interlock, diatonic melodies

Types of Samba

• Carnival samba (e.g. samba batucada and samba enredo)– Characterized by heavy percussion, songs

about themes presented in Carnival

• (Year-round) samba– Characterized by light percussion and plucked

string accompaniment (guitar, cavaquinho)– Songs often satiric, witty, improvised

Samba Batucada

• Instruments of the Batería:– Surdo drums (basic

pulse in 2 divided among three sizes of surdo)

– Pandeiro (sixteenth-note division)

– Cuíca (accents)– Tamborim

(syncopation)– Caíxa (snare drum)

Samba Batucada Rhythms

Choro

• Urban-popular instrumental genre

• Late 19th c. in Rio de Janeiro• Predates Carnival samba• Considered “musicians’

music”• Performed for hire at parties• Played for pleasure in the

roda de choro• Serves as “Brazilian” musical

grounding for instrumentalists of all types

Instruments of Choro

• Violão (6- and 7-string)

• Cavaquinho• Pandeiro• Melody instrument

(flute, clarinet, bandolim, saxophone)

Choro Genre

• Instrumental composition in 2/4

• Based on formal structure of polka with standard harmonic progressions

• Lively tempos; syncopation

• Some improvisation, importance of malícia (playful competition between soloist and accompanist)

Choro and Villa-Lobos

• Heitor Villa-Lobos (1857-1959)

• Choro is “the integral translation of the Brazilian soul in the form of music”

Choro Influence

• Played guitar in roda at music store

• Choro guitar style permeates works– Syncopation– Active bass lines typical of 7-string guitar in

choro– Arpeggiated chords– Three sixteenth-note pickup typical of choro