Beating the rhythm

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.”