DRUMS AND DRUMMERS IN BRAZIL
The largest population of African origin outside of Africa is in Brazil, so our culture is full of African cultural traits, and drums are the most present instruments, not only in samba, but in regional rhythms.
At the beginning of the 19th century, black slaves were not allowed to express themselves in rituals of African origin, in which the drums have a strong presence. In the twentieth century music, dance and drums became part of the streets and Brazilian popular music.
The drums represent a framework of resistance and a way of communicating African and Brazilian cultures through traditional religions, popular festivals and dances. For social movements, drums often call for marches to claim rights.
A drum is a percussion instrument of an indeterminate sound belonging to the membranophones in the Hornbostel-sachs classification system. It consists of a resonance box, which is usually cylindrical in shape, and a membrane called drumhead or drum skin, which covers the opening of the box. The sound is obtained by striking the instrument on the membrane with your hand or with sticks. The box is also usually percussed.
Drum types are the most common percussion instruments. Among them can be mentioned the bongo, the drums of candombe, repique, piano and chico; Uruguay, djembe, mazhar, snare drum, taiko, tambor alegre, tambora (Dominican drum), tambor llamador (yamaró), tabor, timpani, tumbadora, drum kit...
The samba, Brazil's best-known rhythm, uses drums, but there are many others such as the maracatu, the mining drums of Minas Gerais, the aché from Bahia, and many others. Even in rhythms such as rock and jazz drums are often used. It is as if Brazilians were born playing drums and dancing, even though they start with homemade improvised instruments such as buckets and cans.
Drums are synonymous with partying in Brazil, but also with fight. The drum kit is important to alleviate the hardships of life that is often difficult, but beautiful, as a well-known song in the voice of Beth Carvalho says.