3 Minutes of Awesome! Back to Brazil...

Every year in Concert Band, we study the music of Latin America. We begin with mariachi and norteno from Mexico, move on to son and samba from Cuba/Puerto Rico, and finish with samba music from Brazil. This year, the band was particularly taken with the Brazilian band Timbalada, and many of the students were downloading their music to listen to on their own. I was very excited to see that I had turned them on to one of my favorite musical cultures, right up there with Mali and India.

I went looking for some similar bands and found Monobloco. This is how they describe themselves:

Monobloco's eclectic repertoire goes from traditional carnival marchinhas by João Roberto Kelly to sambas by Cartola and Clara Nunes; from xotes by Alceu Valença to forrós by Luiz Gonzaga; from the Brazilian funk of MC Leonardo to pop songs by Paralamas do Sucesso, Raul Seixas and Tim Maia. Among the hits performed during the shows are Taj Mahal, Fio Maravilha, País Tropical and Santa Clara Clareou (all by Jorge Benjor), Rap do Real (by Pedro Luís and Rodrigo Maranhão) and São Gonça (by Farofa Carioca). This unexpected mixture is also seen in the array of instruments - electric and bass guitars are added to traditional samba school instruments such as cavaco, repique, tamborim, shaker, surdo and agogô.

When you check out the video, watch for some of these instruments, like the tiny tamborim (frame drum), the caixa (snare drum), the large surdo (bass drum), and various agogo bells. You'll even hear the apinto, which is the whistle used to signal a new section of the tune for a large percussion bateria marching in a samba parade.

Enjoy!

Here's the whole album on Spotify: