Berimbau
Encyclopedia : B : BE : BER : Berimbau
The berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. The berimbau's origins are not entirely clear, but there is not much doubt on its African origin, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows, and very similar instruments are played in the southern parts of Africa. The berimbau was eventually incorporated into the practice of the Brazilian martial art capoeira, where it commands how the capoeiristas move in the roda. The instrument is known for being the subject matter of a popular song by Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell, with lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. The instrument is also a part of Candomblé-de-caboclo tradition.
A sample of an unaccompanied berimbau: 
[Toque de Angola] (ogg format, 17 seconds, 174KB).
Design
The berimbau consists of a wooden bow (verga — traditionally made from biriba wood, which grows in Brazil), about 4 to 5 feet long, with a steel string (arame - often pulled from the inside of an automobile tire) tightly strung and secured from one end of the verga to the other. A gourd (cabaça), dried, opened and hollowed-out, attached to the lower portion of the Verga by a loop of tough string, typically a hard shoe lace, acts as a resonator.
Since the 1950's, Brazilian berimbaus have been painted in bright colors, following local Bahian/Brazilian taste; today, most makers follow the tourist consumer's quest for (pretended) authenticity, and use clear varnish and discrete decoration.
To play the berimbau, one holds the berimbau in one hand, wrapping the two middle fingers around the verga, and placing the little finger under the cabaça's string loop, and balancing the weight there. A small stone or coin(dobrão, moeda, pedra) is held between the index and thumb of the same hand that holds the berimbau. The cabaça is rested against the abdomen. In the other hand, one holds a stick (vaqueta - usually wooden, very rarely made of metal) and an optional rattle (caxixi). One strikes the arame with the baqueta to produce the sound. The caxixi accompanies the vaqueta. The dobrão is moved back and forth from the arame to change the tone of the berimbau. The sound can also be altered by moving the cabaça back and forth from the abdomen, producing a wah-like sound.
Parts and accessories of the berimbau:
- Verga: Wooden Bow that makes up the main body of the Berimbau.
- Arame: Steel string.
- Cabaça: Opened, dried and hollowed out gourd secured to the lower portion of the berimbau, used to amplify and resonate the sound.
- Dobrão: Small stone or coin pressed against the arame to change the tone of the berimbau. Stones are sometimes called pedra.
- Vaqueta: Small stick struck against the arame to produce the sound.
- Caxixí: Small rattle that optionally accompanies the Vaqueta in the same hand.
- Berra-boi or gunga: lowest tone.
- Médio (other say viola): medium tone.
- Viola (violinha if the medium tone is viola): highest tone
Sound
The berimbau, as played for capoeira, basically has three sounds: the open string sound, the high sound, and the buzz sound.
- Even beginners will have no difficulty in playing the buzz sound, as one holds easily the gourd closed against one's belly, while touching the string with the dobrão. A muted "tch" sound emerges.
- To play the open string sound, one strikes the string less than an inch up from the gourd string, with the bow balanced on the little finger so that the gourd is opened. One can grossly tune the open sound, by releasing a little the string, and by sliding the gourd a little up or down from the place where the sound is best.
- To produce the high sound, one must hold the bow in the same way, gourd opened, and press strongly the dobrão upon the string. The sound differs from the low sound in tone and in timbre. Old recordings and musicians report that the difference in tone used to be about 1 tone (the interval from C to D). One can press the dobrão away enough from the gourd for this only if the bow is about 4 feet to 4 feet 2 inches; that was the length of the bows in the 1940's and 1950's. Today, many berimbaus are overgrown to 5 feet and more, so the players rely mainly on the change in timbre, and tuning options are limited in berimbau ensembles.
Closing and opening the gourd while the string resounds produces a wah-wah effects, which depends on how large the gourd opening is. Whether this effect is desirable or not is a matter of controversy. Pressing the dobrão after striking the string is a widely used technique; so is closing neatly the gourd while the string resounds to shut off the sound. A specific toque requires the open string sound with closed gourd. Musicians use whatever sound they may get out of the string. It is often considered bad practice to strike other parts of the instrument. As with most aspects of playing the berimbau, the names of the techniques differ from teacher to teacher. Most teachers, and most students, worry more about producing a nice sound than about naming the individual sounds.
Of course, the strength (velocity, accent) with which one lets the vaqueta hit the string is paramount to rhythm quality. The open sound is naturally stronger (meaning that, for a constant-strength strike, the other two sound weaker), but the musician may decide which strikes to stress. Also, the sound tone shifts a little with the strength of the strike, and some sophisticated toques make use of this.
Use in capoeira
The capoeira music required from the berimbau is essentially rhythmic. Most of the patterns derive from a single 8 units basic structure:
xx.v.v.v.
(all characters denote equal time; x means buzz sound; v, any of the two stronger sounds or no action, depending on the variant one play; dots mark no actions; syncopation occurs).
Capoeirista musicians produce many variations upon this pattern. They give names to known variations, and when such a named variation occurs repeatedly (but not exclusively) while playing, they call what they are playing by the toque of the name of that variation. The most common names are "Angola" and "São Bento Grande". There is much talking about the meaning of these terms. There is no short way to wisdom in capoeira, one has to make one's own mind.
In capoeira, up to three Berimbaus may play together, each with a loosely defined different role.
- The gunga plays the bass line, rarely improvising its rhythm (in capoeira, it takes much patience to play gunga). The person playing the gunga is normally the leader of the roda, and the other instruments all follow the gunga. The gunga is used to call players to the pé do berimbau to begin and end games, and the gunga player is ultimately in charge of the whole roda. Generally the gunga player leads the singing, which is made easier by the simple rhythm and little variation that he plays, and adds a means to his control of the roda.
- The médio complements the gunga. For instance, while the gunga play a simple, eight-unit pattern "tsh-tsh, ding, dong, dong", the viola (or médio) play a sixteen-unit variation, like "tsh-tsh, dong, diiing; tsh-tsh, dong, didonding". The dialog between gunga and viola (or médio) gives the toque its character. There is no further general rule, every master has its own definitions and requires specific rhythm from the other musicians. Some want all the instruments in the same pattern, others, may be most, loathe and despise this uniform playing which they want only of beginners, while they stress that variation must not blur the characteristic toque. Between competent players, one hears much variation.
- The viola (or violinha), if present, plays mostly variations and improvisations upun the main rhythm defined by the duet of the two others. The viola player will often play variations, syncopate and break to accentuate the songs being sung. The viola is tuned to the médio as this is tuned to the Gunga.
A well played and well tuned assembly of Berimbaus sounds quite beautiful and moving.
There are countless different rhythms or toques played on the berimbau. Capoeiristas and masters engage in endless controversy about the denominations of the rhythms, the loose or tight relations of any definite rhythmic pattern to a toque name, to speed of execution, and to the type of Capoeira game it calls for. Each group delivers its own definitions to beginners.
Common toques names are:
- Toque de Angola: loosely associated (very strictly in some groups) to slowness and very sneaky Capoeira game. Rests on (does not play) the last strike of the basic (xx.v.v.v.) pattern.
- Toque de São Bento Pequeno: generally same as Angola with the high tone replacing the low tone and vice-versa, and faster. Much more sophisticated for some old masters.
- Toque de São Bento Grande: the most common toque for playing, after the initial slow chanting over Angola toque, in most groups. Reflects closely the basic rhythm, with as many variations as groups.
- Toque de Jogo de Dentro: like Mestre Bimba's São Bento Grande de Regional (or simply Regional), calls for an intricate game with enough objectivity.
- Toque de Iúna: today, means Mestre Bimba, founder of the Regional thread of capoeira, variant, which does not rely on the same pattern as the other capoeira rhythms. The toque calls for a free-flowing, close game with emphasis on aesthetics (including acrobatics). This toque is normally not accompanied by the rest of the instruments. When played, only competent Capoeiristas may play in the Roda. For most groups, this means graduates (Professor, Contra-Mestre, Mestre, etc.).
- Toque de Cavalaria: In the past, used to warn Capoeiristas of the approach of police. Now used for a much faster game, without leaving your hands much on the ground.
Berimbau players in other styles of music
- Candomblé-de-caboclo songs have been recorded by ethnomusicologists to the accompaniment of berimbau. Musicians have also played Ketu, Gêgê and Angola candomblé rhythm patterns on berimbau, but this does not appear to have any relationship either with the cults or with capoeira.
- Berimbau has appeared in a number of bands as a marker of Afro-Brazilian origin.
- Nana Vasconcelos, since the late 1970's, has played berimbau and other percussion with modern jazz musicians worldwide.
- Dinho Nascimento, more recently, has used berimbau as his main instrument for music recording.
- Max Cavalera - Lead singer and guitarist in metal bands Sepultura and Soulfly.
- Airto Moreira - Brazilian percussionist, works with many musicians and combines many styles from different continents.
- Ney Rosauro - Brazilian percussionist and composer of contemporary classical music has utilized the Berimbau in several of his compositions for orchestra and percussion ensemble.
See also
External links
- [Berimbau how to setup a berimbau, how to play a berimbau, berimbau information]
- [Berimbau song lyrics by Vinicius de Morães]
- [''The Berimbau Page at Rhythmweb]
- [Berimbau by Richard P. Graham and N. Scott Robinson]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.