Berimbau: Brazilian musical instrument

The berimbau is a single-stringed percussion musical instrument which is a musical bow and it is from Brazil. Although the berimbau’s origin is not yet clear enough but the there is no good country that the instrument is of African origin as no indigenous Brazilian or European people use the musical bows and an instrument that has some similarities with the berimbau is played in the southern part of Africa. This musical instrument was suddenly joined into the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira and the berimbau leads the capoeiristas movement in the roda and the rule is, the faster the instrument is playing, the faster the capoeiristas move in the game. The berimbau is known for being the subject centre of a popular song by Brazilian guitarist called Baden Powell with the lyrics by Vinicius De Moraes. It is revealed that the instrument is also a part of the Candomble-de-caboclo tradition.

source: berimbau.itrademarket.com

The berimbau is made up of a wooden bow which is about 4 to 5 feet long with a steel string that is tightly tied and secured from one end of the instrument to another. A gourd, dried and opened as well as hollowed-out that is attached to the lower portion of the verga by a loop of tough string serves as the resonator.

Since the 1950s, the Brazilian berimbau have been decorated with bright colours following the local Behian/Brazilian taste and today, most of the instrument’s producers follow the tourist consumer’s quest for authenticity and they use clear varnish and discreet ornamentation. To play this musical instrument, the player should hold the instrument in one hand covering the two middle fingers around the verga and also positioning the little finger under the cabaca’s string loop and balancing the weight there. A small coin or stone is held between the index and thumb of the same hand that is holding the berimbau. The cabaca is kept to rest against the abdomen and the player hold a stick on the other hand and a shaker called the caxixi. The player strikes the arame with the vaqueta to give out the desired sound. The caxixi serves as an accompaniment to the vaqueta and the sound given can be changed by moving the cabaca back and front from the abdomen to produce a sound like ‘wah’.

It is a mistake to call the cabaca a gourd because as far as the Brazilian berimbaus are concerned, the fruit that is used for the berimbau resonator while still in Brazil as cabaca is not a real gourd; rather it is the fruit of an unrelated species.

Opening and closing the gourd while the string resounds always produce a wah-wah sound effect which heavily depends on how large the opening and closing is and it is a matter of controversy whether the sound effect that is produced is desirable. Musician use whatever sound that the instrument produces and it is not said to be a bad practice to strike the other parts of the instrument. Just like most aspect of playing the berimbau, the names of the methods varies from teacher to teacher as most teachers and students disturb themselves about producing a nice sound than about naming the individual sounds. Meanwhile the strength with which the player is hitting the strings is paramount to the rhythm timbre. The open sound is naturally stronger although the player may decide which strikes to stress. And with the strength of the strike, the sound tone can shift.

The berimbau is a microtonal musical instrument and while the instrument can be tuned to play a major or minor 2^nd, the exact tone is almost a natural 2^nd lying between a whole and half tone. The berimbaus may be tuned to the same pitch but the sound quality will actually differ. Commonly, low note of the medio is tuned in unison to the high note of the gunga and also for the viola to the medio. Others may like to tune the instrument in 4ths and triad. Any tuning is accepted in as much as the sound is good to the master’s ear.

The Siddi people that is found in India and regarded as the descendants of the east African immigrants plays an instrument that is similar to the berimbau and the instrument is called the “malunga”.