Rio Samba, But Chill
We play Slow Samba with Repenique, Caixa, Agogô, Tamborim, and three Surdos. The main pulse has the High Surdo on the One and the Low Surdo on Two, with the Medium Surdo playing the Corti ("corchi") part. The main groove has the Repenique and Caixa playing continuous 16th note rhythms. If the Tamborim player has the chops, they can play the 16th note Carreteiro ("ca-hee-tay-you") rhythm, otherwise they can play the Teleco-Teco pattern. The Agogô plays the upper melody. Note that we play "High-Low" for Slow Samba and "Low-High" for Fast Samba
The intro starts with the Repenique playing quarter notes with the left hand (open, slap, open, slap...) and the Teleco-Teco pattern with the right before leading the call and response. At the end of the intro, Surdo 3 (Corti) responds with three eigth notes and a pickup, before the groove begins. The Tamborim waits a few bars to start, and then plays a Subida (a rise) while lifting the instrument from low to high, playing a crescendo. After the Subida, the player can perform the Teleco-Teco or the Carreteiro.
At any time, the leader can call for a Virada (turnaround) to stop and restart the groove. This can be used as a quick break, a division between two dynamic levels or melodies, or as a reset to get the group back on track. It's signaled by a "U" or "V" shape and a four count.
There is also the "Four Break", which is indicated with four fingers. The group responds with a single hit, then two, three and four hits, followed by "Hey!". We get one, two, three, and four hits, a pickup note from the Corti, and return to the groove.
The piece ends when the leader indicates it, calls four counts, plays the last phrase of the intro, and the ensemble plays the final two notes.
The Repenique player leads the Intro with the group responding. After the end phrase, the 3rd Surdo plays three beats, the Repenique plays a buzz roll and two beats, the 3rd Surdo plays an up beat, and the groove begins. The Repenique player has some freedom in how many times they repeat some of the sections.
The Repenique player repeats the following two lines at least three times.
Play these two lines once.
Play these lines at least twice.
Play these two lines three times.
Play these two lines three times.
Play the res of the lines once.
A few bars after the intro with the rest of the group well into the groove, the Tamborim enters with the Subida (rise.) The Subida may be played as triplets, but it is really the first, third and fourth 16th notes, played with a Samba Suingue (samba swing).
The leader holds up four fingers and counts in the break. The Repenique plays the standard groove (3 right; 1 left - notated in the main groove, but not here), while the rest of the ensemble plays hits in groups of 1, 2, 3, and 4 - as notated.
Interested in joining? We'd love to hear from you!