afro-brazilian percussion - sharing rhythms, notation systems ...

[ikpema]

hi everybody!

I'm a german woman interested in afro-brazilian percussion. I would like to start a discussion about afro-brazilian rhythms and their backgrounds, practical ways of rhythm-notation, software for notating and playing percusion, percussion-forums in the www, concerts, books, videos, dvd, cds ...

I started playing percussion maybe ten years ago and I have been learning by teachers from camerun, gambia, angola, guinea and germany. I'm not a specialist- I just practised a little bit of everything- african drumming, brazilian percussion, some ta-ke-ti-na...

first of all I'm very much interested in SHARING RHYTHMS!
(as beeing married to a nigerian my special interest at the moment is focussed on nigeria- especially on the yoruba- and edo-drumming and traditions. I would be really glad if somebody could tell me more about this! e.g. about a nigerian rhythm named "shiko" or "ashiko"?). from my modest experience I could offer you: sharing rhythms from guinea (malinke), few from angola, and some brazilian...

and as I'm still looking for the best way of RHYTHM NOTATION I'm interested in different ideas about this! (does somebody know a simple notation-program for percussion? I once had a program named "sambadrum" or something like that- but after a computer crash it has vanished...)

so now lets get started...
I'm very courious about your anwers...

ikpema- the drumming addicted woman

gungun godo pata...

[ikpema]

today i was busy in the web- so i can answer some of my questions by myself.
may be you are interested too? i found the following interesting links today:

>> MIDI RHYTHM GENERATOR: http://www2.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/rhythm2.html

>> SOFTWARE: http://henrykellner.com/PercussionStudio/

>> RHYTHM NOTATIONS ON THE WEB:
http://users.pandora.be/willie.camerman/djembe_en_rhythm.html
http://www.dancing-hands.de/index2.php?datei=home&sprache=en
http://www.african-drumbeat.co.uk/almost3.htm
http://www.fam.tuwien.ac.at/~schamane/data/audio/rhythms/
http://members.tripod.com/rhythm_planet/
http://www.djembe.net/share/
http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~jlewis/drum/groove/

i hope i'm not only talking to myself with all this!?? :;):

lets groove ... ikpema

[zaragemca]

welcome to the forum Ikpema,there is some information in relation Nigerian rhythms in the Bata section of this forum.

[ikpema]

welcome to the forum Ikpema,there is some information in relation Nigerian rhythms in the Bata section of this forum.

hi zaragemca!

thank you for this information!
this is really a very interesting thread!

ob'owa- greetings! ikpema

[Tamborim]

hi everybody!

I'm a german woman interested in afro-brazilian percussion. I would like to start a discussion about afro-brazilian rhythms and their backgrounds, practical ways of rhythm-notation, software for notating and playing percusion, percussion-forums in the www, concerts, books, videos, dvd, cds ...

I started playing percussion maybe ten years ago and I have been learning by teachers from camerun, gambia, angola, guinea and germany. I'm not a specialist- I just practised a little bit of everything- african drumming, brazilian percussion, some ta-ke-ti-na...

first of all I'm very much interested in SHARING RHYTHMS!
(as beeing married to a nigerian my special interest at the moment is focussed on nigeria- especially on the yoruba- and edo-drumming and traditions. I would be really glad if somebody could tell me more about this! e.g. about a nigerian rhythm named "shiko" or "ashiko"?). from my modest experience I could offer you: sharing rhythms from guinea (malinke), few from angola, and some brazilian...

and as I'm still looking for the best way of RHYTHM NOTATION I'm interested in different ideas about this! (does somebody know a simple notation-program for percussion? I once had a program named "sambadrum" or something like that- but after a computer crash it has vanished...)

so now lets get started...
I'm very courious about your anwers...

ikpema- the drumming addicted woman

gungun godo pata...

Hello. My respects.

Brazilian rhythms are traditionally hard to find in notated form. They are somewhat different to Afro Cuban rhythms due to the melody used in Brazilian music, which centers on the 2, as opposed to the one.

There are some books released by a gentleman by the name of Fernando Marconi, dedicated to Brazilian rhythms. You need to contact his publisher for information.

OCTOGONO LIBROS
C/ TARRAGONA, 23
28045 - MADRID - SPAIN
TEL. +34 91 468 1501
info@octogonolibros.com

These books are about the only books I have seen on Brazilian percussion, outside of trap set playing.

For information on the pandeiro. I highly recomend this site. You can buy high quality pandeiros from this site. The pandeiros are far above something from the likes of RMV.

To find rhythms there is much on record. Artists such as Carlinhos Brown, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Marcos Suzano and many more have released some of the best music on the scene today. It is a matter of simply listening to as much music as you can get. I would also recomend a trip to a samba or batucada school in Brazil. I am planning a visit later this year and hope to stay for some months.

I see you have traveled to Africa to study djembe. This will help you with Brazilian rhythms. Instruments such as the timbal use similar technique. The timbal is a nice alternative to the conga.

I have also seen a nice DVD from LP on Brazilian percussion. You may find it here.

I wish you luck.

[zaragemca]

Saludos,while some percussion patterns in the brazilian music have an odd timing and also the placing of harmonics chords in syncopated sequence,the drum-set and the bass riff are structure in the first beat,(4/4 time signature), and the cuban music also used the (2) beat for the structuration of the bass,some percussion and the solos.Also historically the brazilian carnival was trailing the cuban carnival,the incorporation of horns,floats,comparsas(which in brazil are Samba-Schools),etc.



Edited By zaragemca on 1106765893

[mco]

Greetings,
Here are 3 books on Brasilian percussion and rhythms that I have found informative and helpful:

"Brazilian Percussion", by Gilson de Assis.
"Essence of Brasilian Percussion" by Ed Uribe
"Brasilian Percussion Manual", by Dan Sabanovich

Hope this helps.

[Berimbau]

Boa Tarde Camaradas,
Meu Deus, so many Brasilian percussion livros!!! On the heels of the World Music phenomenon there has been an explosion of publications, many of which I already see posted here. However, Ed Uribe's aforementioned book is perhaps best because it is so clearly written and it is so widely available. Nonetheless, for those hooked on the ritmos of the esoteric there are some other quality books in English worth mentioning. First, some oldies but goodies:
Jucato "Bossa Nova and other Latin-American Rhythms." Mills Music 1962.
Paulinho Magalhaes "Rhythms and Instruments of Brazil" Swing House 1965.
Laurindo Almeida "Latin Percussion Instruments and Rhythms." Gwyn Publishing 1972.
Two very important Brasilian instruments which have only been given a cursory treatment thus far in most books are the Berimbau and Pandeiro. Thankfully, this situation has been recently recitified with two interesting "specialty" books focusing exclusively on them:
Luis Almeida da Anunciacao "A Percussao dos Ritmos Brasileiros."
Vol. 1 "O Berimbau."
Vol. 2 "O Pandeiro Estilo Brasileiro." Europa Grafica 1990.
Both of these books are bilingual, although the English is at times a bit akward. Highly recommended. A number of books covering the martial art form capoeira also have some transcriptions in them. Most noteworthy here is
Bira Almeida "Capoeira; A Brazilian Art Form. North Atlantic Books 1986.
Of course there are tons of non-English books, videos (a subject in itself), and a few less than stellar books as well.

Boa Sorte,


Berimbau

[zaragemca]

Thanks to the brother Berimbau,and mco for the information.