Suffolk School of Samba > About

Samba percussion is produced by a variety of instruments which each play their own patterns. The instruments themselves can be expensive, beautiful and precision made in Brazil but they can also be cheap, homemade and improvised on the spot - that is part of the spirit of the music. We list some instruments below.

	Agogo Bell Double or triple (or, what the hell - even QUINTUPLE) set of bells of different pitches. Hit with a stick or squeezed together.
	Apito (whistle) Small but important. A tri-tone whistle is often used to signal forthcoming breaks in the music - as well as an instrument in its own right.
	Repinique (Heh-peh-nee-kay) A small, high pitched drum with a metallic sound - sometimes hit with one hand and one stick and sometimes with two flexible sticks. Often used by the leader of the bateria to signal 'calls' that bring the rest of the players in or form part of a break.
	Surdo Large drums which are tuned to three or more pitches and played with both the hand and beaters. They form the bass sound for the group and are often loud enough to be felt in the stomach as the band approaches from a distance. Liable to set off car alarms (seriously).
	Caixa, Tarol or Snare Marching snare drums played with two sticks. Supported at waist height or held between the hand and shoulder. They produce a hypnotic metallic sound.
	Rocas or Ganzas (Shakers) Tubes filled with beads, sand or shot (ganzas) or sets of flat tin bells (rocas) provide the shaker sound for the group. Often the first instrument picked up by beginners in our group but actually quite hard to play well.
	Cuica Looks like a drum - sounds like a small dog that has just had it tail trodden on. The head has a stick running through it into the body of the drum. The player grabs the stick with a wet rag and rubs it - pressure on the drum head can be used for variations in pitch. If you have listened to samba music and found yourself asking "what on earth is THAT" noise you probably meant the cuica.
	Pandeiro Basically a classical tambourine - but its tin bells give it a drier sound. Slapped, hit, shaken, rubbed, tapped or (in Brazil) even juggled. Very versatile but small enough to slip into a rucksack - the "laptop" of Samba.
	Timba, Timbau or Tantan An instrument that looks and is played a little like a djembe (with your hands) Names and playing styles for it vary across different parts of Brazil.
	Tamborim Small hand held drum giving a high metallic tone. Normally hit with a plastic split stick and turned in the hand to give different sounds. Used for complex patterns in samba.
	Box of matches Okay, okay - the point is that it is totally in the spirit of samba music to improvise instruments out of whatever comes to hand. During the Brazilian military regimes of the 60s and 70s many sambistas were persecuted and street music was frowned on. At this time instruments such as frying pans, bits of old cars, table tops and clapped hands were widely deployed and could be reverted to more innocent uses if the army showed up.