MODERN DRUMMER SEPTEMBER 200968

So many drummers from all around the worldhave much to share with us. They move us with therhythms of their respective countries. These rhythms,some of which are mixtures from many cultures, have away of reaching down deep into our soul that makes us wantto explore them and bring them to our own drumming. A number of theserhythms have become a standard part of our drumming culture, while othersremain fixed in their country of origin. Likewise, some of the drummers who playthese rhythms are well known around the world, and others are not.

My mission as a professional musician has been to share the beauty of these variousstyles with all drummers and to show how the rhythms can be used as building blocksfor developing your own way of expressing yourself on the drums.

The rhythms of Brazil have been deeply rooted in my drumming for decades now. Ivebeen very fortunate to travel to Brazil to perform, to learn, and to cast myself into thedeep cauldrons of drums and drumming found in various regions of the country. I knowIm but a child when it comes to learning about the rhythms of Brazil. Each neighbor-hood in each city has its own way of interpreting rhythms. But learning and sharing is mygoal. With that in mind, I want to introduce to you seven great drumset artists of Brazil:Robertinho Silva, Christiano Rocha, Ramon Montagner, Giba Favery, Celso de Almeida,Tutty Moreno, and Teo Lima.

by Chuck Silverman

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ROBERTINHO SILVA was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,in 1941. His many influences include styles emanatingfrom all over the country: Afro-Brazilian rhythms such asijex, capoeira, and maculel; rhythms from the northeastregions of Brazil, like baio, maracat, and forr; and somany more. Silvas drumming influences include LucianoPerronethe Pope of Brazilian drumsand PlnioArajo, whos been playing with the Orquestra Tabajarafor sixty-three years. Silva also credits bossa nova drum-mers Edison Machado, Dom Um Romo, and MiltonBanana, plus American jazz drummers Philly Joe Jones,Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams, as having amajor impact on his music.

When asked how someone who hasnt been exposed

to Brazilian music should begin to learn about it,Robertinho suggests, Listen to the music, feeling theway it swings. Its different from anything else. Brazil hasa huge variety of rhythms. We have more than fiftyrhythms that are registered, and many others are in aphase of study and discovery. It demands dedication tolearn about Brazilian music.

Silva has created the Batucadas Brasileiras school, forstudents between fourteen and twenty-five years old whocome from low-income families, and the Orquestra DePercusso Robertinho Silva percussion group. Visitwww.batucadasbrasileiras.org.br to find out more aboutRobertinhos school. myspace.com/robertinhosilva50

CELSO DE ALMEIDA was born in1960 in Tupa, a small country town inSo Paulo. His very first influence washis father, Ary de Almeida, who wasalso a drummer. Ary introduced Celsoto the music of Buddy Rich, GeneKrupa, and such Brazilian drummers asEdison Machado and Rubens Barsotti.De Almeida enjoys listening to JeffHamilton, Clarence Penn, Peter Erskine,Brian Blade, and Vinnie Colaiuta, aswell as Brazilians Pantico Rocha,Cezinha, Toinho Batera, Jorge SambaGomes, Jorginho Gomes, Llo Izar,Marcio Bahia, and Edu Ribeiro.myspace.com/celsodealmeida

GIBA FAVERY, who lives in SoPaulo, has been playing drums fortwenty-three years. He credits BuddyRich, Neil Peart, John Bonham,Stewart Copeland, Steve Gadd, andJoel Rosenblatt, along with Braziliandrummers Celso de Almeida, EriveltonSilva, Toninho Pinheiro, Paulo Braga,and Kiko Freitas, as his influences.

When asked to characterize thedifferences between samba and bossanova, two of the most commonBrazilian rhythms, Favery says, Inbossa, the dynamics are usually verysoft and controlled, which makes theuse of brushes applicable. The rim-click patterns of sambamany timesbased in rhythms of samba de rodaand partido altoare usually morefree than in bossa. The tempos inbossa arent usually very fast, while insamba there is more room for tempodifferences, from the slow pace ofsamba-cano to extremely fast tem-pos around 160 bpm.gibafavery.com.br

TUTTY MORENO was born in the rhythm-richcity of Salvador, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Hesone of the true purveyors of Brazilian jazz drum-ming. He began playing drums at sixteen, afterfirst playing trumpet and saxophone. His primaryinfluences are John Coltrane, Miles Davis, ElvinJones, 60s-era Tony Williams, and Braziliandrummer Edison Machado.

Moreno always begins his daily practice byplaying very fast tempos at very soft levels. Thishelps him develop dynamic control.

RAMON MONTAGNER, born in 1975, lives in Campinas, in thestate of So Paulo. He started playing guitar at age ten andswitched to drums when he was twelve. Montagners family ismusically inclined, which, of course, had an influence on Ramonas a young boy. But he was also captivated by hard rock andheavy metal drummers like Nicko McBrain, Neil Peart, andCarmine Appice. His other influences include Vinnie Colaiuta, Art Blakey, Brian Blade, Horacio Hernandez, Ignacio Berroa, Bill Stewart, and Brazilian drummers like Tutty Moreno and Teo Lima.

Montagner mixes percussion into his drumset playing in anamazing way. He invented a unique blended setup called per-cuteria, which he uses on various gigs. I started to incorporatepercussion into my drumset in my work with Brazilian Duet, aduo with Alexandre Cunha that created Brazilian rhythms for twodrums and percussion, Ramon says. A key component ofMontagners style is working two pedals with his left foot at thesame time. He can play many rhythms, like maracat, ijex,samba, and agogo patterns, using two blocks with differentpitches. Ramon recently released an instructional DVD calledBrushes With Brazilian Music, which explains the essence ofplaying Brazilian rhythms such as samba with brushes.ramonmontagner.com

CHRISTIANO ROCHA lives in the city of So Paulo. He started playingdrums at the age of fourteen. At seventeen he began more formal studyat the Talentus Music School, where he soon became a teacher. Rocha,who has written a wonderful book about Brazilian drumset, BateriaBrasileira, points out that not just music but many things in lifeart,nature, and other diverse subjectsinfluence his drumming. He alsolists Vinnie Colaiuta and Jeff Ballard, along with Brazilian greats MiltonBanana, Rubens Barsotti, Celso de Almeida, Cuca Teixeira, and CarlosBala as some of his musical inspirations.

When asked what categorizes Brazilian music, Chris answers, Therhythms, melodies, and chord progressions are unique. The musictranslates the lands geography and peoples soul. The weather andwomen are inspirational. And bossa nova translates the spirit of Rio. christianorocha.com

TEO LIMA was born in Macei, in the Brazilianstate of Alagoas. He heard a lot of Jackson doPandeiro, Luiz Gonzaga, and other musicianswho were adapting the folkloric rhythms of thenorth and northeast part of Brazil. When Teomoved south to Rio de Janeiro, he started lis-tening to the American bands of Henry Mancini,Woody Herman, and others. He has also beeninfluenced by the modern sounds of theBrecker Brothers, Herbie Hancock, and ClausOgerman. Lima enjoys listening to drummersHarvey Mason, Steve Gadd, Peter Eskine, LulaNascimento, Wilson das Neves, Dom UmRomo, Edison Machado, and Rubens Barsotti.

When asked how to become acquaintedwith the world of Brazilian music, Lima sug-gests, Listen to music with Brazilian influ-ences. If you listen to samba coming from otherplaces, you will not understand Brazilian music.It would be like learning jazz from Brazilianmusicians. You might be able to assimilate theharmony, but the rhythmic application would bethe difference.myspace.com/teolimadrummer

Turn the page to check out a series of insightful lessonsfrom these modern masters.

The following grooves and exercises comefrom Christiano Rocha. Heres the basicostinato for the piece Baio De Trs. Thehi-hat opens on every third 8th note. Rocha

uses this ostinato as the basis for drum solos.

Heres the basic jequibau rhythm, which was created in the1960s in So Paulo. Its in 5/4, but the hi-hat is played in 2/4.

Bom Retiro is a samba played in 7/8. This pattern appears onacoustic guitarist Zezo Ribeiros album Gandaia.

The following samba surdo (bass drum) patterns are good fordeveloping the swing and accents of samba. Play them on a floortom, using the palm of the left hand and a stick held in the right.

Heres a samba in 9/8. The hi-hat plays a pattern in 2/4.

Rocha plays this rhythm on the final part of the title track ofhis CD Ritmismo. Each limb plays a different meter. The bassdrum is in 2/4, the hi-hat is in 3/8, the toms are in 7/16, andthe ride is in 5/16.

MUSIC KEY

DRUMSET ARTISTS OF BRAZIL

This is an adaptation of the samba de roda rhythm fromsoutheast Brazil. The hi-hat plays a rhythmic pattern that istraditionally rendered using handclaps.

This is a samba reggae groove in 7/8.

In this bossa nova pattern, the left foot and the rimclicksare playing opposing rhythms.

The following samba/bossa grooves are from Celso de Almeida.

SEPTEMBER 2009 MODERN DRUMMER 71

These three bossa nova grooves come from Tutty Moreno.Theyre much more funky than the straightforward bossasthat are often transcribed in method books.

These exercises, from Giba Favery, were created in orderto develop velocity and endurance. Use a three-part motionaccent, tap, upstrokewith one smooth movement, similar tothe Moeller stroke.

Once you have that smooth ostinato under control, add thefollowing left-hand rimclick pattern, which is taken from thetelecoteco rhyt