Berimbau
The berimbau () is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, originally from Africa, that is now commonly used in Brazil. The berimbau would eventually be incorporated into the practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art "capoeira", the berimbau leads the capoeiristas movement in the "roda"—the faster the berimbau is playing the faster the capoeirista moves in the game. 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. History. The berimbau's origins  have not been fully researched, though it is most likely an adaptation of African gourde musical bows, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows. The way the "berimbau" and the "m'bulumbumba" of southwest Angola are made and played are very similar, as well as the tuning and basic patterns performed on these instruments. The assimilation of this African instrument into the Brazilian capoeira is evident also in other Bantu terms used for musical bows in Brazilian Portuguese, including "urucungo", and "madimba lungungu". By the twentieth century, the instrument was with the jogo de capoeira ("game of capoeira ), which had come to be known as the berimbau", a Portuguese misnomer. The Portuguese used this word for their musical instrument the guimbarde, also known as a Jew's harp. As the Jew's harp and hungu shared some similarities when the latter was held in the mouth, the Portuguese referred to it as "berimbau," akin to how the African lamellaphone came to be known in English as the "hand piano" or "thumb piano." The smaller type of the African bow (in which the performer's mouth is used as a resonator) was called the "berimbau de boca" (mouth "guimbarde ) whereas the gourd-resonating type became the berimbau de barriga" (belly "guimbarde"). The berimbau slowly came to replace the drum as the central instrument for the jogo de capoeira, which it is now famous for and widely associated with. Design. The berimbau consists of a wooden bow ("verga" – traditionally made from "biribá" wood, which grows in Brazil), about 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 (pretended) 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. Sound. 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. Use in capoeira. In capoeira, the music required from the berimbau is essentially rhythmic. Most of the patterns, or toques, derive from a single 8 unit basic structure: xxL.L.L. Notation key: . rest x buzzed note L Low tone H High tone (...) Bar of 2 to 4 beats, 8 - 16  subdivisions/units (..|..) Two or more bars ., x, L, H are of equal length and represent the smallest subdivision of the bar Capoeira 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 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 up one's own mind. In  traditional capoeira, three Berimbaus play together (accompanied by two pandeiros, one atabaque, one reco-reco and an agogo. Each berimbau holds a position in relation to the "roda": There is no further general rule. Every master has his own requirements for the interaction between musicians. Some want all the instruments in unison. Others reserve uniform play for beginners and require significant variation from their advanced students, as long as the characteristic of the "toque" is not blurred. 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. Capoeiristas  and masters engage in endless debate 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. Toques. 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.)