a Brazilian instrument with African origins, the berimbau de barriga is a simple stringed instrument attached at its base to a hollowed out gourd, which acts as a resonator. The berimbau is closely associated with Brazil's black slave culture, and in the 1800s was intimately tied into the music of the martial arts style known as capoeira (see below). The revival of the berimbau as a popular instrument in the 1960s and '70s was in part a move to align the popular music of the times with Brazil's folkloric past. There is an excellent essay on the history of the berimbau on N. Scott Robinson's World Music Percussion website.
A bow-like percussive instrument which dictates the tempo of the music and consequentially the tempo of the capoeira game. Commonly three types of berdimbau are present in the roda, the gunga, the medio, and the viola or violinha…” (Capoeira, 1995: 143).
a brazillian instrument used to create rhythm in a capoeira roda
a musical instrument with its origins from west central Africa
a traditional instrument, that looks like a bow strung with steel wire
a Brazilian instrument of African origin which looks like a bow and arrow with a gourd attached for resonance. The arrow is the stick which strikes the metal string of the bow - a stone is held in the left hand against the string and the right hand holds both the stick and a shaker (caxixi). This instrument is traditionally played to accompany the Afro-Brazilian marital art/dance form capoeira.
one-stringed precussion instrument resembling a bow
An african instrument which determines the rhythm and the game
( bed im baw) is a Brazilian musical bow with gourd resonator that originates in Angola Africa. It is used in the martial art form Capoeira.
A Brazilian musical bow of Congo-Angolan origin. An open goured resonater is held against the chest, and the instrument's string is tapped with a stick.
lead instrument in capoeira, a musical bow
The berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. The berimbau's origins are not entirely clear, but there is not much doubt on its African origin, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows, and very similar instruments are played in the southern parts of Africa. The berimbau was eventually incorporated into the practice of the Brazilian martial art capoeira, where it commands how the capoeiristas move in the roda.
