Folk and Ethnic Musical Instruments

The berimbau or berimbao is a neckless single string (monochord) instrument from Northeastern Brazil. It consists of a bow (usually made from Biriba wood) holiding a single thick steel string (nowadays often taken from old tyres) and a calabash (cabaça) as a resonance body at the lower end. Hitting the string with a stick (baqueta), berimbao players produce several pitches by stopping the string with a metal piece or coin (dobrão). The player holds a small basket filled with seeds (caxixi) in the same hand, producing addtiional percussive sounds. Several tpyes of berimbao exist, differing in pitch. The gunga, (featuring a very thin bow and a large calabash, producing the lowest notes) the médio and the viola. The berimbao is an important element in Afrobrazilian culture. It is one of the main instruments of the Capoeira tradtion, a martial art style developed among fugitive slaves in colonial Brazil. Well known berimbao players are the the precussionists Airton Moreira and Nana Vasconcelos.