by Tone » Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:55 am
Yes David you know your stuff.
Samba is the most misunderstood rhythm outside of Brazil, especially by drummers.
The Samba is almost a hundred years old and has evolved into millions of styles and genres. It is very hard to say what is Samba today, eventhough it is completely obvious to any Carioca.
Like David, I think the only way to make sense of it is to go back to the very root of it and that is of course the cabula rhytm from the candomble which features the three main elements of the Samba :
1-a 2/4 rhythm with accent on the 2
2-The agogo part which gives you the partido alto clave or the tambourim or the left hand on the tantan and millions of others things. The trick that very few people understand is that (as David mentioned) it starts half way through and cycles over two bars. Very confusing at first. A bit similar in some ways to the way the clave works with guaguanco.
3-And of course the most important: the swing, the feel!! Which also stems from the interplay of the rhythms in cabula. That swing is so beautiful, so restrained, so subtle and yet so powerful! Feeling that swing is what it is all about. And, you won't pick it up after a few listening sessions, it take years.
The conga parts in the conga book are parts that would actually be played (albeit rarely) with a Samba ensemble, but they are not what is commonly referred to as the Samba rhythm. The rhythm is usually spread over many percussionists sometimes hundreds of them.
The only instrument that suggests the all thing is the pandeiro, which emulates almost everything with its various strokes.
I will try to write down a Samba rhythm for the conga but it really doesn't come alive without some special type of ghost notes ( from the atabaque technique) and the famous swing.
T.Gtt.gsTT.tts.s
r.rlr.rlrr.lrl.l
T= open tumba
t= open conga
G= ghost tumba
g= ghost conga
. =rest
s= slap
not that the last two slaps should be more like atabaque slaps in the middle of the drums. They don't make any sense with out the proper swing, they suggest the agogo of cabula or partido alto .
It is best to start the rhytms with the last slap as a pick up. You will feel it more.
I am hoping to be able to offer soon some really good learning and practising tools for both Cuban and Brazilian rhytms. The stuff I always and still think I so sorely missed.
Anyway this forum will be the first to know about it.
Good luck with the samba. Get a pandeiro teacher if you can, it will help more than anything.
I was once showed this phonemes technique to get the feel which I think works quite well. Here it is : just say out loud over and over again. Do it to some samba recording it will make sense...
TakarakaTakarakaTakaraka....etccc
Um Abraço e boa sorte!
tone