(energetic music)
-: Hello everyone. My name is Eduardo Mendonça.
I am from Brazil.
Yes, this big country on South Asia, right?
(laughs) Of course not.
It is the largest country in the South America.
Yes, my first language is Portuguese.
Brazil is the only country in the South America
that speaks Portuguese.
Very happy with that.
Makes us a little bit unique at that point.
Today I'm gonna be working with you.
I'm gonna be sharing a little bit about
the street rhythm of my country.
The rhythm I'm gonna be learning today
it's called Samba Reggae.
Samba: the most popular Brazilian rhythm
and then Reggae, that's not Brazilian rhythm.
Where is Reggae from?
Oh yeah! If you said Jamaica, that's great.
If you didn't say that, it's pretty close.
Now we all know Jamaica, right?
And one of the most popular Jamaican singers
and composers is Bob Marley.
There is a few songs that you know from Bob Marley like
♪ No woman no cry ♪
It's a reggae, there's another one too like that
♪ Don't worry ♪
♪ About a thing ♪
♪ 'Cause every little thing ♪
♪ Is gonna be alright ♪
Yeah, so this rhythm start in Brazil.
The late 70's and the early 80's.
A group of young people, they got together in the street
and say, "Yeah, let's create something new!"
And yes, they did it.
They blended together some elements of Samba.
And then put together some elements of the Reggae music.
And then they created this new rhythm
called Samba Reggae, okay.
There is a few ways to play Samba Reggae.
I'm gonna be sharing one of them today.
And for drums, guess what.
I'm gonna be using cooking ware.
Cooking pots. That's gonna be our drums for today.
It's very easy to find, right?
(laughs) And I'm gonna be using that as my drums.
See. And I'm gonna be also putting together here
paper towels on top of them.
Just to muffle a little bit the sound.
Otherwise, you can have something like this.
If I can muffle a little bit with the
paper towel, it could be like a piece of fabric.
Could be, like, a t-shirt,
or anything to muffle, a little bit, the sound.
You see the difference?
Just a little bit.
Yeah, and right now we are gonna be also
doing the same thing for another one.
So you don't have to actually do very well.
Just put on top, and here another one.
Here you go.
So, I'm gonna call, now, my drums (laughs)
I'm gonna call my drums by numbers, okay?
This one here on my left.
That's gonna be on your right,
because you're gonna be my mirror, right?
My left gonna be your right.
And here, we're gonna be, my right will be your left.
So, I'm gonna be calling this one here number one.
I'm gonna be calling this one here number two, okay.
And the little one here in the center number three.
So, the number one and number two
we're gonna be playing the quarter notes when I count.
And one, two, one, two, one, two.
You can actually move like from your right and left.
Right and left.
That make you more connected with the rhythm.
For the pseudo number three,
we're gonna do a different part, like that.
(percussion)
Yeah, if I sing the rhythm it goes like that.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Yes, okay pretty good.
So, now you see the number three sometimes
play the eighth notes and sometimes goes on sixteenth notes.
Right, and now if you observe the number three
is played very often with one of these drums.
Number one or number two.
Take a look and let me know which one
you think is playing more often.
The number three play more often
with the number one or number two.
Ready? Here you go.
(percussion)
Which number?
Yes, if you said the number two, it's correct.
If you did not say the number two, that's fine
you can make mistakes, that's fine.
But yes, we play together more often with the number two.
Okay, now for the Samba Reggae let's work in the call.
Brazilian rhythm there's a lot of call and response.
And our intro will be something like that.
My little drums here on my table
gonna do something like that.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Let's see again.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Let me sing the rhythm.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Let's do it again.
(vocalizes rhythm)
One more time.
(vocalizes rhythm)
One more time and I say "go" and
then do it together with me, okay?
Go (vocalizes rhythm).
Beautiful. One more time just to make sure.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Yes! Okay, so in Brazilian music,
and Brazilian popular music, Brazilian street music,
everything is more orderly.
So, people is not too connected to
who is the one, who is the two, and who is the off-beat.
Nothing like that. But I'm gonna give you some,
just a little tips about how we can
connect that with the music.
And then if you count, it's a two-four.
One, two, one, two.
When it starts to the call, you're gonna be the off beat.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Right? Here you go let's count again.
One, two, one, go (vocalizes rhythm).
Beautiful, that's the call okay?
Let's do it again.
One, two, one, go (vocalizes rhythm).
Yes! Okay, now I'm gonna count, and then you do yourself.
Here you go. One, two, one, go.
Oh yes! Okay, now the response.
For the response both drums.
You have like two hands, of course, but can't do
with the one or two, or one and three, or two and three.
Whatever drum you pick will be fine.
Because the response you're gonna be hit twice.
(vocalizes rhythm) Okay? Like that.
Let me play for you.
One, two, one (vocalizes rhythm).
You see, I made a mistake. Let me do again,
because I have to sing the call, and then
respond by hitting the drums twice.
Go (vocalizes rhythm)
Yes! Okay, I can choose these ones for example.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Yes! And then, let's now do the call and the response.
Together. One, two, one, and (vocalizes rhythm).
Yes! Okay, now let's start the rhythm.
Okay, when I say "and" I'm gonna be hitting
the one and two, and then number three
is gonna start right after two, and off beat, okay?
Like that. (vocalizes rhythm)
And one. (percussion)
Yes! You see it's a lot of fun, right?
I think it's fun.
And now let's talk about the outro.
The outro will be the same thing I did at the beginning.
(vocalizes rhythm)
That's gonna be our outro, okay?
Here we go. The only difference is
right in the beginning, nobody's playing
because (vocalizes rhythm) right?
(vocalizes rhythm) however, for the outro
you're gonna be actually playing through, like this right?
(percussion) When you hear the call you don't stop.
Wait for me. (percussion)
(vocalizes rhythm) Got that?
Yes! Now let's do everything from the top.
We're gonna do the intro, we're gonna do
the body of the rhythm, and we're gonna do the outro.
Ready? Here we go. One, two, one, and (vocalizes rhythm).
And one. (percussion)
(vocalizes rhythm) Yes! You got everything.
So, now, to finish, to conclude,
let's put something else in here.
Also, the intro and outro could be breaks in between.
I could do breaks in between.
And this time, when I'm gonna do the breaks in between,
I'm gonna be saying something like "solo".
If I say "solo" and then you can go throughout the break
and you can create a few things here.
Be creative, you can hit the table, you can hit the drums.
Just use your imagination, give wings to your imagination.
And I'm gonna say "and" (vocalizes rhythm)
and then go back to the rhythm.
Okay, let's see. Let's see how that works, okay?
Let's do the intro, the rhythm, solo part,
like you do your improvisation,
and then back to the rhythm, and the outro.
Let's see how that work.
(vocalizes rhythm)
And.
(percussion)
(vocalizes rhythm)
Solo.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Your turn.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Do your solo.
(vocalizes rhythm)
I'm watching you.
(vocalizes rhythm)
And one.
(vocalizes rhythm)
Wow! I hope you learned something new today.
Something that you can do some improvisation
you can create something when you do the breaks in between.
You can ask people to come together and play with you.
It's not necessarily like play one, two, and three.
Or you play one, two, and three.
But you can have like a bunch of people
only hit the beat one.
Another group of people only hit the beat two.
And another group of people (vocalizes rhythm).
You can be creative and see how can break down this rhythm
for your group to play.
So, before I go, let me ask you to remind
me the name of the rhythm that you just learned.
This Brazilian street rhythm.
Yeah, there is a combination of the two rhythm.
One is a samba from Brazil
another one is reggae from Jamaica.
Thank you so much.
That was very nice to be here with you.
And let's say goodbye in my first language, in Portuguese.
Okay, here you go. Tchau!
Now let me here you one, two, three. Yes.
Tchau!
(energetic music)