Berimbau

The berimbau (Portuguese pronunciation: [beɾĩˈbaw], borrowed from Kimbundu mbirimbau) is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as sekitulege among the Baganda and Busoga.
It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd resonator and is played with a stick and a coin or stone to create different tones and rhythms.
The berimbau was used in many parts of Africa and Brazil during the 19th century to accompany chants and storytelling. It is part of the candomblé tradition, later incorporated into the Afro-Brazilian art capoeira. Until the mid-20th century, it was used almost exclusively within the black community, but after the popularization of capoeira, it gain wider popularity.
Today, berimbau is used in various genres of popular music.
Berimbau is an adaptation of African gourde musical bows, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows. According to the musicologist Gerard Kubik, the berimbau and the "southwest Angolan variety called mbulumbumba are identical in construction and playing technique, as well as in tuning and in a number of basic patterns played." The assimilation of this Angolan instrument is evident also in other Bantu terms used for musical bow in Brazilian Portuguese, including urucungo, and madimba lungungu.
In 1859, French journalist Charles Ribeyrolles described free practices of African slaves on a plantation in Rio de Janeiro province, linking the berimbau to the batuque:
The berimbau first appeared as an instrument accompanying capoeira in the early 20th century in Bahia. The berimbau slowly came to replace the drum as the central instrument for the capoeira game, which it is now famous for and widely associated with.
Mestre Pastinha recalls that the capoeiristas during the prohibition used to attach a double-edged sickle to the instrument, turning it into a deadly weapon when necessary: "In the moment of truth it would cease to be a musical instrument and would turn into a hand sickle." Mestre Noronha also claimed that the berimbau was a very useful weapon to the old capoeira masters of the 1920s who resisted police repression. The berimbau was used as a weapon either with one end sharpened or by attaching a blade to one end, making it the capoeira's longest-range weapon.
The practice of hiding weapons inside musical instruments dates back to at least the early 19th century. On November 16, 1832, the police inspector in Rio reported that capoeiras conceal spears and weapons in marimbas and sugarcane pieces.
The berimbau consists of a wooden bow (verga – traditionally made from biribá wood, which grows in Brazil), about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres) 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, acts as a resonator.
Starting in the 1950s, Brazilian berimbaus were painted in bright colors, following local Brazilian taste; today, most makers follow the tourist consumer's quest for (faux) authenticity, and use clear varnish and discreet decoration.
To play the berimbau, one holds it in one hand, wrapping the two middle fingers around the verga, and placing the little finger under the cabaça's string loop (the anel), and balancing the weight there. A small stone or coin (pedra or dobrão) 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 (baqueta or vaqueta – usually wooden, very rarely made of metal) and a shaker (caxixi). One strikes the arame with the baqueta to produce the sound. The caxixi accompanies the baqueta. The dobrão is moved back and forth from the arame to change the pitch produced by 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:
Calling the cabaça a gourd is technically a mistake. As far as Brazilian berimbaus are concerned, the fruit used for the berimbau's resonator, while still known in Brazil as cabaça ("gourd"), it is not technically a gourd (family Cucurbitaceae); instead, it is the fruit of an unrelated species, the tree Crescentia cujete (family Bignoniaceae), known in Brazil as calabaça, cueira, cuia, or cabaceira.
Capoeiristas split berimbaus in three categories:
These categories relate to sound, not to size. The berimbau's quality does not depend on the length of the verga or the size of the gourd, rather on the diameter and hardness of the verga's wood and the quality of the cabaça.
The berimbau, as played for capoeira, basically has three sounds: the open string sound, the high sound, and the buzz sound.
Other sounds may appear in a berimbau performance, but only these define capoeira's rhythmic patterns (except Iuna).
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 not 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 baqueta 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.
In capoeira, the berimbau commands the roda, the circle where capoeiristas engage in the game, and by extension, the game itself. The music required from the berimbau is essentially rhythmic. Most of the patterns, or toques, derive from a single basic structure. Capoeira musicians produce many variations upon the basic pattern. They give names to known variations, and when such a named variation occurs repeatedly while playing, they call what they are playing by 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.
In capoeira Angola, three Berimbaus play together. Each berimbau holds a position in relation to the "roda":
Tuning in capoeira is also loosely defined. The berimbau is a microtonal instrument and while one can be tuned to play a major or minor 2nd, the actual tone is approximately a neutral second lying between a whole and half tone.
The berimbaus may be tuned to the same pitch, differing only in timbre. More commonly, low note of the médio is tuned in unison to the high note of the Gunga, and likewise for the viola to the médio. Others like to tune the instruments in 4ths (C, F, B flat) or a triad (C, E, G). Any tuning is acceptable provided it sounds good to the master's ear.
There are countless different rhythms or toques played on the berimbau.
Common toques names are:
In notating the toques, it is a convention to begin with the two buzzed tones, however it is worthwhile to note that they are pickups to the downbeat, and would more properly be transcribed: xx(L.H...xx)
São Bento Grande as played in a regional setting places the main stress or downbeat at the final L so that it sounds: (L.xxH.L.|L.xxH.L.L)
Other toques include Idalina: (L.L.x.H.|xxL.L.H.), Amazonas: (xxLLxxLH|xxLLLLLH), Banguela: (xxL.H.H.), all deriving from the basic capoeira pattern. The toque called "Santa Maria" is a four bar transcription of the corridos "Santa Maria" and "Apanha Laranja no Chão Tico Tico". (xxL.LLL.|xxL.LLH.|xxH.HHH.|xxH.LHL.)
Capoeiristas also play samba, before or after capoeira, with the proper toques, deriving from the samba de roda rhythmic pattern: (xxH.xxH.xx.H.HH.)