Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration

Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration Francisco de Assis Santana Mestrinel (Chico Santana) State University of Campinas, Department of Music, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil; University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, UNESCO Chair on Transcultural Music Studies, Weimar, Germany. santanachico@gmail.com

This paper discusses the aspects of flexibility and integration in the performance of samba batucada, a Brazilian collective percussive practice. Departing from the sonic visualization of two examples - Bateria de Bamba and Bateria Alcalina - I present some perspectives of the samba’s rhythmic structure and the relation between sound patterns and body movements. Flexibility and integration may be seen as inherent aspects of the collective music making, reflecting some further issues of the batucada experience.

Keywords: Samba, Batucada, Corporeality, Rhythm, Bateria Alcalina, Bateria de Bamba

Introduction The present paper presents a partial overview of a PhD dissertation about the experience of batucada, focusing on its dynamic processes, which integrate musical, educational and social aspects. The analysis of different elements of the batucada phenomenon aims at understanding how they are linked to each other. My hypothesis is that batucada is a body experience that promotes the interaction between the participants, integrating learning processes and social aspects and so reflecting elements of the musical practice as well as its rhythmic characteristics. My methodology adopts the perspective of Transcultural Music Studies, concentrating on the processes of collective music making. The utilized data was collected during my field work, confronting audio and video recordings, as well as interviews, with my own embodied experience.

Herewith I aim to demonstrate the aspects of flexibility and integration inherent to the batucada rhythm, questioning how these aspects articulate during the performance of samba batucada; what is the impact of both concepts to the batucada rhythm and how it is linked to further aspects of the batucada experience. After presenting a brief analysis of field audio recordings using sonic visualization, I propose a simple model to demonstrate the inherent movements of the sound structure. Then, I discuss the relation of these movements to the physical structure of performers, observing an acoustic-motional dimension of the

Chico Santana music making process. In the conclusion, I point out some further elements linked to the batucada experience, outlining the concepts of flexibility and integration in a wider perspective Batucada means basically the samba groove, whereby samba can refer to (i) music, (ii) dance or even (iii) party (GRAEFF, 2015; SODRÉ, 1979). One word for three elements, or three connected actions. Music is supporting dance in a meeting place. This expanded perspective alludes to the so called African "batuques” (African drumming and dances), ancient Afroamerican diasporic manifestations, that integrate these elements, merging the symbolic dimensions of the sacred, the playful and the spectacular (SANTANA, 2018: 47). The word batucada comes from batuque, that was considered a synonymous of samba until the beginning of 20th century (LOPES, 2003; ANDRADE, 1989).

Musically speaking, there is a huge universe of samba styles. Batucada is linked more specifically to the samba enredo played by the samba schools of Brazilian carnival. After the foundation of the first samba schools (end of the 1920’s), samba rhythm has established some of its main musical characteristics (SANDRONI, 2001) and the batucada has developed within a process of samba “modernization” in the urban context. The percussion ensembles called baterias play during the carnival parade of samba schools, in a competition that follows strict rules1.

However, batucada may be observed in a wider perspective, as a kind of experience capable to mobilize people through a musical collective practice.

Batucada is present, by instance, in soccer games (both professional and amateur), political protests and the street carnival of the so called blocos (without competition). Wherever it is, batucada promotes a wide interaction of people, mobilizing body movements, articulating music patterns and establishing relationships between the participants, their culture and the places where they are.

Bateria de Bamba and Bateria Alcalina Nenê de Vila Matilde is considered a traditional samba school and was founded in 1949 in the East End of the city of Sao Paulo by Alberto Alves da Silva, aka Seu Nenê, relatives of his, and friends from his neighborhood. Its bateria has always been its main strength (SIMSON, 2007; MESTRINEL, 2009).

Such degree of musical proficiency has earned it its nickname: Bateria de Bam-

The Carnival competition between the samba schools is regulated by several rules to evaluate different elements of the parade, including among other costumes, composition, and the bateria's performance.

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Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration ba2. This ensemble presents a vigorous drumming and a high level of body engagement during the performance. As a rhythm player (a ritmista), I have played caixa (snare drum) and repinique at Bateria de Bamba as of 2005.

Bateria Alcalina3 , as for it, was created in 2003 on the campus of the State University of Campinas. It is part of the Bloco União Altaneira, which parades in the street carnival of the neighborhood Barão Geraldo in the city of Campinas. Although Alcalina emerged as an academic bateria linked to the University, it soon became an active cultural group beyond its academic boundaries.

I have been a mestre (musical director and conductor) of this group since its foundation.

Bateria de Bamba is a typical percussion ensemble from samba schools, with standard instrumentation and a repertoire entirely devoted to samba enredo.

Bateria Alcalina follows the same model, but also plays other rhythms freely adapted to their instruments in creative arrangements and versions (MESTRINEL, 2015). Nevertheless, Alcalina is mainly dedicated to the practice of samba, having the batucada of Nenê de Vila Matilde as its main reference. Thus, although both groups perform in different contexts, they share similarities.

Bateria de Bamba parades with circa two hundred rhythm players (ritmistas), while that of Alcalina comprises fifty members during the carnival period. In both groups, the percussion instruments are divided into categories (naipes). Surdo (with three “voices”: first, second, and third), caixa, and repinique constitute the so called “heavy”, while tamborim, chocalho, agogô, and cuica form the “light” ones. Each instrument follows a rhythmic pattern called “batida” or “levada”, played cyclically. A batucada's pattern combines sound density, intensity and timbre, usually in cycles of sixteen elementary pulses (16th notes).

Musical Behaviors To understand how the rhythmic patterns of each category fit together, I resort to three basic functions, that I call musical behaviors: (i) Marcação marking, (ii) condução - conducting, and (iii) base - basis.

Marcação consists of a pattern played in low drums, the central pivot for the practice, playing a regular beat. In the samba batucada the lowest voices of surdo drums (surdo de primeira and surdo de segunda) are responsible for this pattern behavior, that acts as a rhythmic bedrock, supporting the musical structure and the performance. The Condução corresponds to the elementary pulsation, Samba school baterias are usually nicknamed according to their musical or historical features. “Bamba” refers to very competent people in the universe of samba, be they composers, instrumentalists, dancers or interpreters.

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“Alcalina" is due to the stamina of the group, which usually plays with “much energy” for long periods of time. It is an allusion to baterias alcalinas (alkaline batteries).

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Chico Santana usually called as “subdivision” of the beat. This pattern creates a constant flux, “conducting” the movements of the collective practice. In a samba batucada, tamborim, ganzá (chocalho) and repinique are responsible for this rhythmic layer. Base is a pattern similar to a time-line (NKETIA, 1974; KUBIK, 1979), the same as “rhythmic-line" (GRAEFF, 2015; PINTO, 2001) constituted by cycles with varied accents and musical figures. In a batucada, mainly caixa and surdo de terceira play this kind of pattern. Base refers also to some rhythm accents (stressed notes) that characterizes a musical style or genre. This kind of pattern may, thus, be implicit when some instruments are played, as a tacit presence in the rhythmic structure.

The rhythm patterns and their behaviors can be identified on a transcription of samba batucada grid: red color refers to marcação behavior, blue to basis, and yellow to conduction. The first four lines present the light categories of instruments, and the heavy instruments are showed at the lower lines.

Figure 1. Score with transcription of the basic rhythmic patterns of samba.

During the performance, the patterns relate to and communicate with each other, moving and merging themselves in a conjugation process. Some instrument play a flexible role, transiting from one behavior one to another in different parts of the arrangement played during a performance4. Thus, the grid transcription seems to be a too restricted representation of this process. According to Anne Danielsen, "what constitutes a relevant representation of rhythmic structure varies (…) not only with the sound in question but also with the posi4

Repinique and tamborim are good examples of this flexibility in the musical behavior.

Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration tion and priorities of the observer” (2010, p.7). As an insider of batucada groups, I seek to illustrate the flexibility and integration of the rhythmic structure using spectrograms of my field recordings, made in the middle of the groups. A sonic visualization5 illustrates how the patterns behave during the performance of Bateria de Bamba and Bateria Alcalina.

Figure 2. Spectrograms of Bateria Alcalina (left) and Bateria de Bamba (right) playing samba6.

Marcação patterns behave as the main pivot in the lowest frequencies of the rhythmic structure. It “marks" the beat7, supporting the other patterns through an interlocking movement of surdo de primeira and surdo de segunda.

It can be visualized at the lowest part of both images. The base pattern behaves as a connection between the low and high frequencies, alternating suspended and supported sounds. According to the emic terminology, this kind of pattern “cuts” (corta) the low beat, stressing some sincopated points, creating a rhythmic tension in relation with marcação. The vertical stressed lines on the spectrogram show the main accent of the base behavior. This movement is responsible for characterizing the samba style. The condução behaves as a conductor through its constant flux of movements, as an integrator pattern, playing all the elementary pulses of the rhythmic cycles.

In the next figure the circles indicate the behaviors of the patterns in the rhythmic structure (orange marcação, blue base, yellow condução).

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I used the software Sonic Visualizer (http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/)

The piano keyboard (vertical axis) shows the frequency levels and the images in black are the sound espectrograms in an horizontal time axis.

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marcação in Portuguese means “marking”

Chico Santana

Figure 3. Music behaviors of the patterns in the rhythmic structure.

The Batucada Gear The conjugation of those musical behaviors constitutes what I call the Batucada Gear. The movements of each kind of pattern are interrelated, one fluidly affecting the other. The next figure illustrates the articulation of the gear.

The marcação acts as a gravitacional force, attracting the other patterns to stable points - illustrated by the orange triangular arrows below. The base patterns tension this stability with its suspended notes, “pulling" and “cutting" the rhythmic structure - illustrated by the blue triangular arrow in the middle. Condução patterns create a flux of horizontal movements, leading to a flexibility of the beats positions - illustrated by the yellow narrows in the upper part. The alternated directions of this pattern movements derive from the physical movements by means of which some instruments (e.g. chocalho and tamborim) are played.

Figure 4. Movements of the Batucada Gear.

Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration Stover (forthcoming) identifies three useful aspects in understanding the relatedness of a time-line to other rhythmic lines: (i) a sense of two different directional implication, (ii) the non-alignment of this up-down relation with metric cycle beginnings and (iii) the sense of circularity. Those aspects may be observed in the samba batucada. The cyclical organization of the patterns enables this sense of circularity, illustrated by the alternated yellow arrows that conduct the patterns fluently. The relation between the marcação and the base implicates two directions (up-down), illustrated by the triangular arrows. The suspended stressed strokes (blue narrows) are not aligned to the attractive force of the low pivot (orange narrow), creating therefore a rhythmic tension in the structure. This model illustrates the inherent movements of the rhythmic texture, leading to the observation of a relation of flexibility in its structure.

The Batucada Gear synthesizes the dynamic musical behaviors of batucada’s performance, result of the ritimistas' individual performance involved by this sound gear. Dynamically, at the same time that the body movements of performers produce the sound, the bodies themselves are mobilized by the rhythmic gear in a two-way-path. In this space “between", the rhythm earns a high level of flexibility, the patterns establish several relations between each other, integrating (conjugating) themselves. Gabrielsson (1982, p.159) points out that performance activities result in "sound sequences" that may give rise to a "rhythm response", generating a "feedback" to the performance itself. In other words, there is a dynamic movement between an acoustic dimension (sound sequences) and a psychological phenomenon (people’s rhythm responses). In Batucada, the sound sequences of the patterns move constantly, and the rhythm response may be observed in the bodies of performers.

Corporeality Luis Ferreira (2013: 232) describes the role of the body in Afro-American rhythms and performances, as "part of the sound production, promoting interaction not only with dancers (…), but between musicians while they make music". In both baterias studied, the practice of batucada deeply involves the body during the performative action of the rhythm players. The body is both musical emitter and receptor and gestural patterns are connected to sound patterns. Breton (2009) asserts that through corporeality, men make the world into an extension of their experience; they transform it into familiar and consistent wefts, available to action and permeable to comprehension. Considering this perspective, I suggest that in batucada the body plays a mediation role. It acts in a flexible and interactive weft, externalizing performative aspects of sound and movement, transiting through symbolic dimensions. The body mediates the individual and collective levels of the practice, integrating the personality of each rhythm player - the way one play - and the sonority of the whole group.

Chico Santana In batucada, the musical behaviors - the movements of the samba gear may be felt in its "physical structure" (RODRIGUES, 2016: 48). The rhythm movements activate the whole body during the performance. The musical form and structures become more flexible through the interaction and integration between the individual and collective levels of music making, which leads the rhythm players to play together. According to Pinto (2001: 103), the Afro Brazilian music is performed through the articulation of sound and motion (body movements) forming “acoustic-motional patterns”. Clayton et al. (2004: 21) explain the concept of entrainment, suggesting to "look at engagement with music not simply as a process of encoding and decoding information, but of embodied interaction and 'tuning-in' to musical stimuli". In batucada’s performance, I call this entrainment body rhythm reverberation.

The marcação reverberates in the lower parts of the physical structure, mainly the feet. The same way that the rhythmic structure is supported by the interlocked sounds of the lowest surdos, the feet support the body structure and moves it in a pendular sequence. Each low beat mobilizes the steps, creating a balance (in the sense of a swing) in the physical structure. During the performance, the rhythm players normally synchronize themselves by this body balance, fostering an acoustic-motional consonance.

Through the supporting of the feet motional pattern, the whole body reverberates the acoustic movements of the rhythm. The condução behavior mobilizes mainly the upper parts of the physical structure, conducting the arm movements involved in playing the patterns related to this function. Shoulder movements reverberate the constant flux of this conduction, presenting a sense of fluidness in the performance. The base behavior may be felt at the medium parts of the body, specially in waist, trunk and arms. Those parts do not move in a direct relation with the rhythm patterns, but reverberate the tensions of the suspended (sincopated) sounds of the groove. As a conclusion, the central role of corporeality in batucada experience can be understood as a flexibility of the rhythm rooted in the performer’s flexible physical behavior.

Conclusion Graziela Rodrigues (2016) states that the physical structure of performers moves through a constant flux of crossed energies, creating the unity of the whole body. Analogously, the rhythm structure of a batucada creates its unity through the relation of each pattern in a fluid movement. The flexibility of the rhythmic movements is what enables the integration of all the patterns, leading to a consonant performance. The flexibility of the acoustic-motional patterns give rise to several kinds of musical interpretation, giving a personality to each rhythmic pattern. This personality reflects the musical behaviors and the body

Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration engagement of the ritmistas during the performance, integrated through the samba gear.

This process enables people with varied levels of music skill to play together. In Bateria Alcalina, players who have just begun their musical apprenticeship may be integrated by the group, participating actively on the performances. In Bateria de Bamba, these varied forms of playing foster a process of learning together: each player becomes a reference for the other, and the very performance becomes a space of interaction and apprenticeship. As Blacking suggest, "techniques of the body are not entirely learnt from others so much as discovered through others" (BLACKING, 1977: 4). In other words, the bodies reverberate different aspects of the performance, and the players may learn together.

A social aspect emerges from this experience, through the engagement of people in a collective musical practice. The performers may develop their body consciousness, learning more than technique knowledge, developing the skill to interact, to move and to play together. It reflects on several activities of the groups, giving rise to a communitarian sense. The members of each bateria take part at the organization of parties, public presentation, workshops and so on.

Batucada foster the integration of music, dance and party, merging the ancient elements of samba’s culture and its symbolic dimensions.

The flexibility and the integration may be seen as complementary aspects within the rhythmic structure movement. The dynamism of batucada reverberates the movement of the culture, in a dialectic perspective, always changing and integrating new aspects through transcultural processes.

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Samba Batucada: Flexibility and Integration