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Ethnomusicology graduate student Beto Gonzalez, right, leads a class on Brazilian drumming.

UCLA’s Music of Brazil ensemble is finally official. Throughout last year, the ensemble had met weekly under the direction of Latin American Studies M.A. graduate student Beto Gonzalez to practice Brazilian music as an informal group. Now, with the same instructor and under the direction of Associate Professor of ethnomusicology and American Indian studies Tara C. Browner, members can include their musical hobby as an academic discipline.

The group is composed of about 30 students who perform on drums and instruments donated by the ethnomusicology department, Gonzalez, and Browner or bought by the money brought in from this past year’s gigs.

“If the budget situation improves, eventually we may be able to get more instruments from the department, but for right now, it’s pretty much a pay-your-own-way deal,” said Browner.

Yet the lack of funding has not stopped the Music of Brazil ensemble from performing together.

“What I like about the class is that it’s a group effort where everyone gets to contribute, so there isn’t a stuffy feel to it,” Browner said. “Everyone gets to bring their talent and energy into the room.”

The group became an official class in order for the students to receive credit for their experience. As a class, they are now qualified to reserve rehearsal space and apply for money through the Office of Instructional Development in order to invite master players for teaching sessions.

Gonzalez hopes to expand the talents of last year’s musicians and attract new students to the study of Afro-Brazilian drums. The core group of students already possesses a strong level of musicianship which is critical in an ensemble, Gonzalez said.

These students will mentor the new drummers about timing and rhythm. In this way, Gonzalez wants to push the new ensemble in order to make music that will be more engaging for the audience. His approach to Brazilian music is to teach it in the same way he learned.

“Of course there are (music) schools,” Gonzalez said. “But most people learn how to play by hanging out and playing with people who know and getting involved in groups. That’s how it is in Brazil. That’s how I learned it and that’s how I teach it.”

This kind of group is known as a Batucada, or a group of drummers playing African music. And according to Gonzalez, it is this African drumming element of Brazilian music which makes it so exciting and attractive all over the world.

During this past summer Gonzalez hung out and played with one of his favorite Bahian Brazilian groups, Ilê Aiyê. The group was started in 1972 as part of the African consciousness movement in Brazil. They focused on changing the social and political attitudes toward poor Afro-Brazilians in the San Salvador area by producing positive Afro-Brazilian carnival style music.

“Their style of drumming is one of the most exciting to listen to and play,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez felt inspired by Ilê Aiyê’s style of music, which he will incorporate into the ensemble.

Although modern Brazilian music is trendy among college students, Gonzalez believes the combination of electronica, world music, or rock ’n’ roll with Brazilian music should not take precedence over traditional Brazilian music. This is why Gonzalez will teach his ensemble students traditional Brazilian music based on the Bahian sound, which is simpler technically than the Rio Samba sound.

“Brazilian music is not just about being loud and obnoxious,” Gonzalez said. “It’s about grooving and swinging and it’s funky. It’s about making people just want to dance. That’s what it’s all about for me and I love that.”