Brazilian Musical Instruments - Brazil Music

The first Brazilian musical instruments were flutes, horns, whistles, and rattles with an accompaniment of hands clapping and feet stomping.

Over the last several hundred years, instruments from various countries have influenced Brazil's music styles and sounds.

There are several different instruments used to make beautiful music, but these are some of the most popular or well-known Brazilian musical instruments used in dances, religious ceremonies, and just for simple enjoyment.

The atabaque is a hand drum with Afro-Brazilian origin. There are three types of atabaque drums. The tallest one is the Rum, which is the tallest of the three and produces a low sound. The medium high atabaque is called the Rum-Pi and as you might expect, it produces a medium percussion sound. The smallest atabaque drum is called the Le, producing a high percussion sound.

These drums are created from wood called Jacaranda, which is found in Brazil. Calfskin is used to stretch over the top of the drum. Metal rings surround the drum at the top or head and toward the bottom of the drum. Roping is stretched between these two metal rings and can be tightened or loosened to adjust the pitch of the drum. Wedges of wood are fitted tightly in between the bottom metal ring and the drum, which also affects the sound of the drum.

Atabaque drums are played for the Maculele and the Capoeira dances. They're also played during Candomble religious services.

The Maracatu refers to both a type of music and style of dance or performance in Brazil. The alfaia drum is used prominently in this style of music as well as the mangue. This drum originated in Pernambuco, Brazil. The appearance of an alfaia might remind you of the drums used by the U.S. military, as they are round and squatty in stature.

Photo by Lionel Baur, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ganza is a tubular shaped cylinder made from metal, plastic, or basket materials woven by hand. It's filled with cereal, sand, metal balls, or beads to create a unique shaker instrument. The Ganza was brought to Brazil by African slaves years ago and now is often played in samba music.

The cavaquinho was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese explorers. Cavaquinhos are made from wood and outfitted with four wire strings. This small guitar type instrument is used ogten in Chorinho and Samba music.

The pitch and sound of an agogo bell will vary depending on size and shape, but the most recognized agogo bell is two bells attached to metal shaped like the letter U. Striking the bell with a wooden stick creates musical sounds. The agogo was fashioned after bell-style instruments from the Yoruba people from West Africa.

A pandeiro resembles a tambourine and is played much in the same manner by holding it in one hand and striking it with the other hand to make music. It's essentially a hand drum.

The head of a pandeiro can be adjusted to create high or low pitches. The pandeiro is surrounded with metal jingles that can be shaken to produce sound. Brazilian music styles in which a pandeiro is used: choro, samba, capoeira, and coco.

This Brazilian musical instrument is a percussion instrument made from a wooden bow, gourd, and a steel string. The steel string is secured to the wooden bow and the gourd is then attached to the bow.

The berimbau is about 4-5 feet in length so that the gourd can rest on the abdomen and the hands are free to hold the wooden stick to strike the steel string.

The tones of the berimbau vary from low, medium to high, depending upon the quality of the gourds used and the hardness and diameter of the wood.

Sounds that are made with the berimbau are in three main categories, an open string sound, a high sound, and a buzzing sound.

There are many other musical instruments used to create the unique music styles of Brazil. They include:

These are just a few of the Brazilian musical instruments we've discovered. Do you know of other musical instruments from Brazil that we have not mentioned here? Please share with us!

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