Berimbau makes a guest appearance

17 Oct 2016 A Sepultura song came up randomly on my music player giving me a light bulb moment and the inspiration for this list. If you can think of any add to the comments list or ping me! Note that this isn’t in any way a scientific or extensive list, however, I did find … Read more

Learning Tom Zé

Learning Tom Zé I grew up vaguely aware of Tom Zé’s but it wasn’t something I listened to studiously at any period of my life, like I did with Chico Buarque, Elis Regina. I listened to Rita Lee a lot more than Tom Zé, for example. Then David Byrne from Talking Heads discovered him and … Read more

New songs with Mestre José Antônio

29 June 2016 New songs with Mestre José Antônio Mestre Zé Antônio has been in Europe for the last month or so. He came to Mestre Poncianinho’s event Vivência cultural 2016 and then went off to various events in Europe. This week is his last week and then he’s going back to Brazil. Tonight’s class … Read more

Mojubá’s official toques

05 April 2016 Mojubá’s official berimbau toques Angola, São Bento Pequeno, São Bento Grande, Jogo de Dentro, Iúna, Cavalaria, Apanha a laranja, Abaré. For our own roda, 2nd arrangement: Gunga: São Bento Pequeno 2 (aka Angolinha, Angola Dobrada) tsh#tsh# domtss# domtss# dim Médio, opposite of gunga: tsh#tsh# dim dim dom (São Bento grande 2) Viola: … Read more

Abaré – Mestre Poncianinho

13 March 2016 – Abaré – Mestre Poncianinho In Mestre Ponciano’s album, Guarani, there’s one particular toque that I have been wanting to play along to for quite a while: Abaré. It’s a word in tupi-guarani (one of the native inhabitants of Brazil) and in this context it means ‘friendly people’. This version from music … Read more