Music is constantly evolving, and one factor that affects that is the development of musical instruments. As time passes by, people create more instruments or improve on what they already have.
Such is the case with Brazilian instruments. If you’re interested in Brazilian music, then it’s a must to familiarize yourself with the instruments used in the country.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at 15 types of Brazilian instruments you might not know are essential to Brazil’s musical heritage. So sit back, relax, and let’s explore the world of Brazilian music!
1. Cuíca
Up first is the cuíca, a type of friction drum that produces a very distinctive high-pitched sound.
The cuíca drum can be made of metal or synthetic material, and its top is covered with animal skin, measuring between six to ten inches across. There’s a bamboo stick fixed to the middle of the drum’s top that sticks into the drum.
To play it, you tuck the drum under your arm at about the height of your chest and rub the stick inside the drum with a damp cloth while pressing on the drum’s skin near the stick with your other hand. By pressing more or less, you can change the sounds it makes.
The cuíca is really popular in Brazilian music, especially in styles like samba, choro, and bossa nova. It’s often heard in folk music, city pop songs, parades, and even played by groups in Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival.
2. Bandolim
The Brazilian bandolim evolved from the mandolin. The Portuguese colonizers are responsible for introducing this instrument to the country. The man considered a master of this instrument was Jacob do Bandolim.
The bandolim is a small, lute-like instrument. It has a straight fretted neck, a pear-shaped body, and a flat back. Unlike traditional mandolins, bandolims have 15 strings rather than eight.
The strings are separated into five courses of triple strings for guitar tuning. They run over a floating bridge to a metal tailpiece located at the end of the body.
Bandolim is one of the primary instruments used in choro, a popular music genre in Brazil. It is also played in dance and music festivals. Some of the virtuosos Brazil has produced include Luperce Miranda and Hamilton de Holanda.
3. Pandeiro
Another percussion instrument on our list is the pandeiro, a round-hand drum. Think of a tambourine; however, the pandeiro has a crisper tone due to the cupped metal jingles attached to the sidewall.
There are many ways to play this instrument. You can play by holding it in one hand and hitting it with the other to make sounds. You can tap it with your thumb, fingertips, or the bottom of your hand, or even shake it or rub your finger across the top to make different noises.
This instrument is really important in Brazilian music. It’s often used in many types of Brazilian songs and dances like samba, capoeira, and choro. In samba schools, it’s part of the drum group, and in other kinds of music, it adds extra beats.
4. Alfaia
Yet another percussion instrument is the alfaia, a big drum made from wood and animal skin, tightened with ropes. It’s about 16 to 22 inches wide and has a top that’s held down by wooden rings.
Because it’s quite large, players wear it over their shoulder and hit it with two sticks, often with one stick bigger than the other.
This drum is special because of how it’s played. The person playing it holds one stick upside down to make a deep sound that stands out from other big drums.
You’ll mostly hear the alfaia in Brazilian dances like ciranda and maracatu, as well as in some folk rhythms from the northeast of Brazil. It’s usually played with other instruments like the agogô.
5. Ganza
Our next instrument is the ganzá, also known as the Brazilian rattle. This is a cylindrically shaped hand instrument made from either a hand-woven basket or a metal canister.
It’s filled with pebbles, beads, or similar items to produce a sound. The metal canisters produce a louder sound.
If you’re familiar with the African calabash and Indian maracas, the ganzá is played similarly. You simply move the instrument up and down to create sound.
But in the hands of an expert, the instrument can produce complex rhythms. With the right control, the player can increase and decrease the loudness of the sound to produce variations. This control is highly valued in pagode and jazz-samba.
In samba, the ganzá serves as an undertone, but if played in a band, it is used to play a rhythm underneath the rest of the instruments.
6. Cavaquinho
Up next is a string instrument called the cavaquinho. It is a small instrument similar to a guitar but with four strings, like a ukulele’s cousin. In Brazil, it’s known as the cavaquinho brasileiro (Brazilian cavaquinho), and a smaller version is called cavaco.
It looks like a guitar and has metal strings. The normal cavaco comes with 17 to 19 frets, which are the metal strips on the neck. But these frets are tiny and can be tricky for beginners, who usually stick to playing the first few. Some cavaquinhos have longer necks with more frets.
People play it with a pick and use special strumming patterns to make its sound strong and stand out, which happens because the strings are pulled tight. In Portugal, it’s tuned to notes C, G, A, D, but in Brazil, it’s tuned D, G, B, D.
The cavaquinho plays a big role in Brazilian music, especially in folk styles like choro and samba. It’s also a star at parties and carnivals.
7. Atabaque
Our list seems to be dominated by percussion instruments as we got the atabaque next. Also known as atabaque de corda, this is a drum-like instrument with Afro-Brazilian origins.
Traditionally, the atabaque shell is made of jacaranda wood from Brazil, and the head is made from calfskin. Ropes intertwine around the body and connect a metal ring at the base to the head.
Wooden wedges can be found between the ring and the body. The player uses a hammer to tighten or loosen the ropes, thereby lowering or raising the pitch.
Playing the atabaque can be done in three ways. A player can use sticks, hands, or a combination of both. It’s more comfortable to play the instrument while standing.
The Candomblé and Umbanda religions treat the atabaque as a sacred instrument. Three atabaques are often used in the Brazilian martial arts capoeira and one in the traditional dance maculelê.
8. Caxixi
Our next instrument on the list is the caxixi, a percussion instrument that’s played by shaking. It’s made from woven wicker in the shape of a bell, with a dried gourd bottom and seeds inside. It has a handle for easy shaking.
It’s often played with another instrument called the berimbau. People hold the caxixi and the berimbau stick in the same hand, shaking the caxixi while they play.
When used by itself, you shake the caxixi up and down. The way you tilt it changes the sound; tilting makes a softer noise when the seeds hit the basket side, and a louder one when they hit the gourd bottom.
Before it became a secondary source for berimbau, indigenous Brazilian groups used the caxixi in rituals to get rid of bad spirits and call good ones.
9. Agogô
The agogô is an instrument consisting of one or two bells. Arguably, this is the oldest samba instrument and is connected to the Afro-Brazilian culture.
The agogô used to be made from iron but now comes in various metals to make different sounds. It has two U-shaped metal bells, one smaller and higher than the other.
You can play it by hitting the bells with a wooden stick for a sound like a cowbell or by pressing the bells together for a clicking noise.
The agogô is often played with the berimbau in capoeira, in religious events like candomblé, and is a key instrument in samba bands.
10. Berimbau
One of the most common traditional instruments in Brazil is the berimbau. This is a single-stringed percussion instrument popular in the Afro-Brazilian community.
The berimbau is a musical instrument with five main parts: the verga (a long wooden bow), the cabaça (a gourd that helps make sounds), a steel string stretched along the bow, a stick (baqueta) to hit the string, and a coin or stone (dobrão) to change the sound.
It’s famous for being used in the dance-fight game capoeira. The speed of the music from the berimbau controls how fast the players move. It’s also used in Candomblé-de-caboclo, a religious tradition.
11. Repinique
The repinique is another common instrument used in samba baterias. It’s almost always used in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Carnival baterias, as well as the Bahia baterias (where it’s called repique).
The repinique consists of a metal body and a nylon head tightened with metal tuning rods. Like the alfaia, it is carried with a shoulder strap attached to a tuning rod.
In Bahia-style samba, the repinique is played with two wooden sticks. In Rio, it’s played with only one.
The repinique is similar to the tenor drum used in marching bands and the tom drum. As a lead instrument, it alerts the rest of the bateria of rhythmic changes. In samba, it guides the dancer to keep the tempo and rhythm.
These days, you can find this instrument in soccer or football matches. It is used along with other percussion groups to incite excitement.
12. Reco-Reco
Up next is a scraper percussion instrument. The reco-reco, also known as the querequexé or the caracaxá, is often used in Brazilian music.
Traditionally, the reco-reco was made from bamboo or wood and played with a wooden stick. It consisted of a sawtooth-notched cylindrical body with strings attached.
Modern reco-reco now features a metallic body, resulting in a louder, echoing sound. The resonator is made from sheet metal with spring coils attached. It’s also played with a metal stick rather than a wooden stick.
To produce a sound, the player uses the metal rod to brush up and down the spring coils. What comes out is a scrapping sound amplified by the resonator.
The reco-reco has long been used to accompany capoeira, rural dances, and samba. It also serves as an auxiliary instrument.
13. Tamborim
The tamborim is a super-small Brazilian frame drum that is no more than six inches in length and is typically made of wood, plastic, or metal. It is often mistaken for the common tambourine. However, unlike the tambourine, the tamborim doesn’t have snares or jingles.
In most parts of Brazil, the tamborim is played with a small wooden drumstick. In samba-batucada, it’s played with a beater made of plastic or nylon threads bound at the end using tape. The tamborim is rarely played by hand.
This instrument is used in a myriad of Brazilian music genres, including samba, bossa nova, chorinho, and pagode. It’s also used in cucumbi, a northeastern folklore rhythm. In commercial music genres, it serves as an auxiliary instrument.
14. Accordion
Up next is the accordion, popular in southern and northeastern Brazil. The Portuguese brought the instrument to the country in the 19th century. Notably, it became the Rio Grande do Sul state’s official symbol instrument.
In some parts of Brazil, the accordion is the main instrument in many styles of Forró and Sertanejo. Forró is a musical genre popular in the northeastern region of Brazil. Sertanejo, on the other hand, is a musical style that came from the midwest and southeast Brazil.
Not only that, the accordion is a principal instrument in Junina music of the São João Festival.
Several notable Brazilian accordionists include José Domingos de Morais and Mestrinho. The video above shows Mestrinho with another Brazilian musician.
15. Saxophone
Lastly, we have the saxophone. Heitor Villa-Lobos, the foremost representative of concerto music, played a key role in popularizing this instrument in Brazil.
His renowned work, “Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra,” remains a cornerstone of the Brazilian saxophone repertoire and has inspired countless young musicians to learn and embrace the instrument.
From street performers to bossa nova compositions, the saxophone continues to be a prevalent feature of Brazil’s music scene, adding a jazzy, bohemian vibe to performances and enriching the melodies with its unique sound. Even today, it remains a beloved and important instrument in Brazil’s rich musical tradition.
Summing Up Our List Of Brazilian Instruments
One of the things that make a certain country different from others is music. It gives the place its uniqueness and adds to its cultural identity.
Brazil, as our list showed you, is a musically rich country with dozens of unique instruments worth checking out. Most of them are featured in live samba performances and traditional Brazilian festivals.
If you ever have the chance to visit Brazil, don’t miss the country’s spectacular music performances. It’s an experience unlike any other! In the meantime, have fun listening to the instruments above.
