The second main Brazilian music characteristic is what I call forward motion. Try to hear the 2-feel and the accent on beat two in the following examples. Even if a particular rhythm does not have someone playing the beat one like the Partido Alto, the musician must feel the downbeat. The amount of accent will vary according to the genre, being more prominent in Choros and Sambas and less noticed in Bossa Novas. When playing a Choro, a Samba or a Bossa Nova, the musician must feel the downbeat and the accent on beat two. Here I will point out the first main characteristic of Brazilian music which is the downbeat with accent on beat two. This accent also occurs on the pandeiro, which is the most common percussion instrument in a Choro ensemble, and less noticed on the drumset in a Bossa Nova ensemble. The result is a natural accent on beat two. As a general rule, the drum that plays on beat two is tuned at a lower pitch when compared to the drum that plays the beat one. This accent can be related to the bass drums played at samba schools. One of the similarities among Choro, Samba and Bossa Nova is the 2-feel with a slight accent on beat two. This text will discuss the Brazilian music main accents.Īt this point I will include the Choro, which is a less known Brazilian genre that precedes Samba and Bossa Nova, because they share several characteristics. In short, although syncopation is a strong characteristic of Brazilian music, there are some particular specificity in Brazilian culture that differs from other syncopated genres tagged as Latin music. The first issue relates to how Brazilian musicians understand Samba’s and Bossa Nova’s main accents and the second one relates to the most common patterns played by an instrumentalist in a specific genre or style. The main ones I could notice are lack of understanding of the rhythmic approach and lack of use of common Brazilian rhythmic figures. My experience in United States during my master’s in Jazz Performance has shown me some issues that non-Brazilian musicians face when playing Brazilian music. Among countless musical genres that are part of Brazilian culture, Samba and Bossa Nova are ubiquitously the most known in the world, being played in almost all countries. During the 20th century, Brazilian music gained worldwide recognition because of its syncopated rhythmic approach, singable melodies, well balanced harmonies and dances attached to its performances.
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