A Brazillian Beat

Walking through Schoenberg Music Building on a Thursday night
you might hear Brazilian drums grooving. What you’d be
hearing is the Brazilian Percussion Workshop and Ensemble organized
by Beto Gonzalez, departmental scholar in the Latin American
Studies department.

“It’s fascinating how just playing Brazilian drums
alone can create so much groove and so much melody,” Gonzalez
said.

Organized by the group Brazil to promote the music Gonzalez grew
up hearing in Sao Paulo, Gonzalez says the intricacies of learning
the musical form hasn’t discouraged students from coming in
to practice with him. The first meeting of the quarter drew around
25 people, and he hopes that many students will be committed and
ready to perform by spring.

“I knew I wanted a group on campus because I spend so much
time here,” Gonzalez said. “But I knew there
wouldn’t be enough people who knew the music. By teaching the
basics I hope people will get inspired.”

Gonzalez’s career as a musician began when he picked up a
guitar and played his part in a few blues and rock bands. Soon
after, he rediscovered Brazilian music, which felt more natural to
him.

Most of the drums the Brazilian Ensemble plays were brought from
Brazil by Gonzalez while the rest were donated by Tara Browner, a
professor in the ethnomusicology department. Most students he
teaches are either Brazilian or are interested in Brazilian
culture, having studied abroad or been part of a capoeira
(Brazilian martial arts) group.

Gonzalez invites all people interested to join the ensemble but
warns that it requires a drive to learn and dedication to practice
outside of class. The ability to learn Brazilian percussion music,
though, may come more easily for those familiar with Brazilian
culture.

“A very important element of Brazilian music is the
groove, the missing element that tends to come naturally to people
born into the culture,” Gonzalez said. “Growing up and
listening to Samba music being played on the streets, the
intricacies of the rhythm and groove sound very natural to
me.”

Gonzalez, who is planning to finish his Master’s degree in
Latin American Studies and get his doctorate in ethnomusicology at
UCLA, teaches the basics in percussions found in traditional
Brazilian music, not the more recent styles that incorporate
electronic elements. The Brazilian Ensemble uses the pandeiro,
tanta, repinique (the lead calling drum) and the surdo (the huge
bass drum) among other percussion instruments traditional to
Brazilian samba reggae and samba afro music.

“Deciding to be a musician is not a career choice,
it’s just what I do. If I have any career that allows me the
time to play my music I’m happy,” Gonzalez said.

“Uma Pequena Memoria Para um Tempo Sem Memoria…”
by Luiz Gonzaga Jr. (Gonzaguinha), a famous Brazilian
singer-songwriter who made veiled protest music in a samba style,
is Gonzalez’s favorite song.

“It is one of the most intense and powerful songs
I’ve heard in my life. I remember listening to it, and even
today I’m fascinated by the infectious rhythms. I listen to
those songs over and over again.”

The group Brazil at UCLA was just established this year, and the
ensemble is a part of the program’s goal to maintain a forum
for Brazilians and people interested in Brazilian culture.

“It is important that every culture keeps some form of
traditional music alive,” Gonzalez said. “Music is that
conduit that ties us back to our cultural heritage.