Music Styles
Batucaxé is highly influenced by the music styles of Brazil. We utilize the instruments of a typical samba-batucada bateria, primarily: surdos, repiques, caixas, timbals, ganzas, tamborims and agogos.
and Afro-Brazilian percussion ensembles inspire the rhythms we play. We perform traditional and contemporary styles including, of course, samba. World wide, samba is known as one type of music, but in Brazil samba music encompasses many styles, such as samba enredo (the music of Carnaval), samba reggae, maracatu, and endless others.
Carnaval and samba
Samba and Carnaval are inextricably linked. The "bateria" is the drum ensemble of each of the competing sambas schools, each composed of hundreds of percussionists. The dense, driving sound of these groups is a force of nature, an amazing machine, propelling the dancers, floats, pageantry and hysteria of Carnaval.
Samba Reggae
Born in Bahia, Brazil, this style mixes in the influences of reggae music with a more earthy form of the samba bateria. Made popular by groups such as Olodum, Ilê Aiyê and Timbalada, samba reggae is the heartbeat of Carnaval in Bahia. New influences constantly find their way into the music, which swirls into new forms.
Maracatu
Further north, in the state of Pernambuco, maracatu, a slower rhythm relying on heavy, emphasizes off beat patterns that exude pride. Maracatu ensembles rely on the alfaia, a large wooden rope-tuned drum, that serves a role similar to the samba surdo.
Heavy samba
The style is derived from the cross-pollination of traditional Brazilian music with western influences including funk, rock, hip-hop, dance and jazz. Among other factors, heavy samba is a genre that helps us to develop arrangements and provide a signature sound.
Forró
Forró is the name of a popular dance as well as the music genres that support
it in Brazil's Northeast. Traditionally,
the music used only three instruments: accordion, zabumba and triangle,
though other instruments of all types now join the ensembles.