Overview
Brazilian music is a system of grooves in 2/4 with sixteenth-note subdivision, much more "danced" than the notation shows: the second and fourth sixteenths of each beat are often slightly anticipated or shifted (the so-called ginga or Brazilian swing), and the accent falls on the second beat of the 2/4 bar. Four families to know for anyone producing: samba, bossa nova, baião and partido alto.
Samba
Born in Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century (the first recorded samba is usually identified as "Pelo telefone" by Donga, 1916–17), then exploded with the escolas de samba and carnival.
- Surdo: low drum. The surdo de primeira plays the second beat (the strong, open hit), the segunda the first: the feeling of "weight on 2" is the heart of samba.
- Caixa (snare) and chocalho: continuous sixteenths with accents on the fourth sixteenth of each beat.
- Tamborim: syncopated figures (the "teleco-teco"), agogô (two-tone bell), cuíca (friction drum, the "lament"), pandeiro (jingled frame drum: plays all the sixteenths with thumb, fingertips and palm).
- Samba timeline 3-2 over 16 pulses (two bars of 2/4): 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15.
- Tempo: today's parades often run around 130–145 BPM per quarter note; samba de roda, pagode and samba-canção are slower (indicative figures, they vary a lot).
Bossa nova
Late 1950s, Rio (João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes): samba "slowed down and whispered," with jazz harmony.
- Guitar (violão): thumb on the beats (pulses 1 and 9 of 16, that is 1 and 3 in "cut" 4/4), plucked chords syncopated according to the bossa clave x..x..x...x..x.. .
- Drums: cross-stick on the bossa clave, brush or hi-hat in eighths, kick imitating the surdo: hits on 1 and on the last eighth before 3 (in 4/4: 1, 2&, 3, 4&).
- Bass: root-fifth on 1 and 3 with an eighth-note anticipation.
- Typical tempo: about 120–140 BPM per quarter note written in 4/4 (felt in two).
- References: João Gilberto, "Chega de saudade" (1958–59); Getz/Gilberto, "The Girl from Ipanema" (1963–64).
Baião
Rhythm of the Nordeste, codified and popularized by Luiz Gonzaga with Humberto Teixeira ("Baião," 1946; "Asa branca," 1947). Typical trio: zabumba (two-headed drum, mallet on the upper head and a thin stick on the lower), triangle and sanfona (accordion).
- The basic figure in 2/4 is the 3+3+2 grouping in sixteenths: a hit on 1, one on the fourth sixteenth, tied to or followed by the second beat. The zabumba plays the low note on 1 and on the "a" of 1, and fills with the stick on the offbeats.
- Triangle: continuous sixteenths, muted (closed) on the beats and left to ring on the offbeats.
- Baião is related to the Caribbean tresillo and has influenced forró, xote and part of Brazilian pop music; in jazz it is a standard groove (Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti).
Partido alto
A style of Rio samba with a choral refrain and improvised verses, linked to figures such as Candeia and Aniceto do Império; its pandeiro pattern (a dry hit at the center of the head with the palm) has become a guide rhythm used in samba-jazz, funk and fusion.
- Partido alto timeline (2-3 variation) over 16 pulses: 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15 → x.x..x.x.x..x.x. .
- On piano or guitar you "comp" with this rhythm, with anticipations across the barline; in funk-jazz drumming it becomes kick + snare with hands together.
Example in A minor (bossa, 130 BPM)
Am7 – D7/F# – Fmaj7 – E7(b9): bass A–E, F#–D, F–C, E–B on pulses 1 and 9; guitar with the bossa clave; cross-stick the same; shaker in sixteenths with light swing (52–55%). Melody that anticipates the chord by an eighth.
Typical mistakes
- Stressing the 1 instead of the 2 in samba.
- Rigid quantizing at 50%: the pandeiro and chocalho live on micro-shifts.
- Patterns that are too full in bossa: the groove is whispered, kick and bass play very little.
Exercise
Program three 4-bar loops (samba, bossa, baião) in the same key and with the same progression: observe how the feel of the same material changes. Then use the partido alto timeline as the rhythm of a pad or a bass in a house track at 122 BPM.
Related entries
"Clave families," "Clave and tresillo," "Drum grooves by genre," "Shuffle and swing: percentages." Rhythm patterns r-samba and r-bossa in the library.