Music Education for Children in South London
We mainly play Samba Reggae from Salvador Brazil
The instruments we play...
Agogo Bell
Ganza
Xequere
Tamborim
Surdo
Repenique
Timbau
Our Repertoire (the songs and rhythms we know)
The music we play is inspired by the Samba Reggae bands of Salvador. We also play and sing the styles Afoxe and Coco.
Quick links to the rhythms we play
Samba Levada (Fast Samba)
This rhythm uses the Son clave pattern (I can play clave)
Here is a clip of the band Olodum playing a version of this rhythm.
There is some great examples of movement with drums at about 4'30" ....
Samba Merengue (Slow Samba)
This rhythm uses the Samba clave pattern (the only difference to the Son clave is the delayed last note)
We have two breaks in this groove...
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1. Rolling Surdos - (surdos play 16th notes over 4 bars, the whole band stops and responds with two off beats before returning to the main groove
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2. 'To the front and the side and back again, to the front and the side and back again, to the front and the side and back here we go HUH, here we go HUH, here we go... ' This is played between the repeniques and the surdos
Here is another clip of Olodum playing a version of this rhythm.
You can hear the breaks being played, and see how the Mestre (master drummer) calls them.
Samba De Roda (Tum Tum)
We start in a circle, singing with hand percussion.
We take it in turns to step into the circle and improvise dance moves.
This is how samba music began.
This rhythm uses the Samba de Roda clave pattern
Here is an audio clip of Tum Tum Jacutinguele recorded by Grupo Triii.
This is a Brazilian nonsense / tongue twister song that is really good fun to sing
Samba Funk
In this rhythm we take a funk groove that's normally played on a drum kit and we break up the parts for samba reggae instruments to play.
We use the words: One Two OFF we go to play FUNK to remember the rhythm.
The rhythms are broken down like this
Samba Funk
In this rhythm we take a funk groove that's normally played on a drum kit and we break up the parts for samba reggae instruments to play.
We use the words: One Two OFF we go to play FUNK to remember the rhythm.
The rhythms are broken down like this
In funk we play in 4 phrases. 3 phrases of funk then 1 phrase of a solo or break of either 4 or 8 beats.
Afoxe (pronounced Afoshey)
A rhythm that comes from Pernambuco in north east Brazil.
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Afoxe is a non-religious version of music played within Candomble ceremonies (Candomble is a Brazilian religion that comes from traditional African beliefs).
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The principal part of the rhythm is played on the Agogo Bell.
In our band we sometimes use the words 'Rio here we go, on the road to'... to remember the pattern.
Here is a sound clip of our band playing Afoxe at the Dog Kennel Hill Summer Fair 2018...
We play Afoxe with the song Emorio by Gilberto Gil and Sergio Mendes.
Here they are singing a very different version to ours.... back in the 1970s
...And lyrics to download
Coco
Is a rhythm from Pernambuco. Coco means Coconut (the Coqueiro is a traditional Coco instrument).
Coco is a style that comes from the beginnings of Samba music. It is a tradition of call and response singing, with playful dancing and merriness for all.
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We sing several coco songs such as Areia (Sand), Chue Chua (the leaf song) and A Mare ta Cheia (the tide is high)...
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Coco music uses a really important rhythm that is the mother to many rhythms around the world.. it has three notes and looks like this:
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Here is Dona Selma singing Areia
Grupo Triii's version of Chue Chua
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