Berimbau

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Three berimbau with sound bodies in different pitches
Caxixi, Vadero and Baqueta are used to play a berimbau
Three berimbau players, on the left the frame drum pandeiro , capoeira music

The berimbau [ beɾĩˈbau̯ ] is a musical bow from north-east Brazil . In the south of the country it is called urucungu . The string support consists of a curved wooden stick (the arco do berimbau or verga made of Biriba wood), at both ends of which a wire ( arame ) is attached as a string (often taken from old car tires) and a cut open, hollowed-out bottle gourd (Cabaça), which is attached as a resonance body to the lower third of the bow via string and bow.

Audio file / audio sample Berimbau: Listen to the Toque de Angola ? / i

Design and style of play

The berimbau is the main instrument of the Brazilian fighting dance capoeira . The pitch of a berim tree is determined by the diameter and strength of the wooden stick and the resulting different levels of tension in the wire and the length of the bow. A distinction is made between three pitches that determine the role a berimbau plays: the gunga has the thinnest rod as well as the largest sound body and produces the lowest notes; it indicates the basic rhythm and thus the playing style of the capoeiristas. The médio has a central stick and sound body, produces notes in the middle register and plays the counter-rhythm to the gunga. The strongly tense viola produces the highest notes and plays free variations.

The instrument is played with a wooden stick, the baqueta, which is struck on the wire. The pitch is changed with a stone or a coin (the dobrão ) that the player presses against the wire. There are only three tones: low, creaking - if the coin or stone is held only lightly on the vibrating wire - and high. In the hand that moves the baqueta , you usually still hold a braided, closed basket containing plant seeds. This is called caxixi ; it serves to reinforce the rhythm.

Instrument characteristics can be traced back to the musical bows that are widespread in Africa, in particular to two calabash musical bows in Angola , the strings of which are struck with a thin stick.

Musician

Naná Vasconcelos is considered a master of berimbau . Baden Powell de Aquino , a Brazilian guitarist , composed a song about the berimbau, while Vinícius de Moraes provided the lyrics. The song is played today by Brazilian bands such as Olodum , Timbalada , Soulfly and Sepultura .

The Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romão was a master of berimbau playing and introduced the instrument to jazz in New York in the 1970s. He was playing with Astrud Gilberto and John Coltrane at the time . Dom Um Romão played the berimbau for Cannonball Adderley , Ella Fitzgerald , Frank Sinatra , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Weather Report, among others .

Curt Cress and Clelio Ribeiro play berimbau on the 1977 album Iguaçu by the German jazz group Passport .

literature

  • Richard Graham: Technology and Culture Change: The Development of the “Berimbau” in Colonial Brazil. In: Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, Vol. 12, No. 1, Spring-Summer 1991, pp. 1-20
  • Ulla Levens: The Afro-Brazilian musical arc - history, sound world and playing style. With instructions for self-learning. Drachen Verlag, Klein Jasedow 2012, ISBN 978-3927369-63-4
  • John M. Schechter: Berimbau. In: Grove Music Online , 2001

Web links

Commons : Berimbau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files