Baião () is a Northeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from '' musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are som ...

and

dance style This is a list of dance categories, different types, styles, or genres of dance. For older and more region-oriented vernacular dance styles, see List of ethnic, regional, and folk dances by origin.'' African and American * Bolojo *Cakewalk ...

based on a

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

duple meter Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the tim ...

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

, based around the pulse of the

zabumba A zabumba () is a type of bass drum used in Brazilian music. The player wears the drum while standing up and uses both hands while playing. The zabumba generally ranges in diameter from 16 to 22 inches, and is 5 to 8 inches tall. The shell is ma ...

, a flat, double-headed bass drum played with a mallet in one hand and a stick in the other, each striking the opposite head of the drum for alternating high and low notes, frequently accompanied by an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

and a

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

pattern. The baião rhythm is integral to the genres of

forró The term forró (*) refers to a musical genre, a rhythm, a dance and the event itself where forró music is played and danced. Forró is an important part of the culture of the Northeastern Region of Brazil. It encompasses various dance type ...

, repente and coco (or embolada). It is mostly associated with the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...

. Baião was popularized via radio in the 1940s, reaching peak popularity in the 1950s.

Description

Amerindian elements include the use of flutes, later replaced by the

, and wooden

shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a millenarian restorationist Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially ...

; African-influenced baião might be accompanied by atabaque drums and include overlapping

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

singing; and European influences include the use of the

, Western harmony, and dance music such as the

quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six '' contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodie ...

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The te ...

mazurka The mazurka ( Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character ...

, and

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (" chotis"Sp ...

, heavy influences to

, a dance-oriented variant. Repente music uses the baião rhythm in the context of

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

-centric vocal music, featuring the

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or ...

of improvised or pre-written lyrics in a specific

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

and sometimes accompanied by the baião-style accordion and rhythm section. Some instances were accompanied by European-style

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s. According to Guerra Peixe,CASCUDO, Câmara. Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro. Ediouro, Rio de Janeiro, 10ª ed., 1998 () baião mostly borrows harmonically from European music tradition and uses the minor mode and the

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doub ...

( Ionian mode), Mixolydian, Lydian and Dorian

modes Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

, and the first, second, fourth and fifth

scale degrees In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals a ...

chord progressions In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

. The

supertonic In music, the supertonic is the second degree () of a diatonic scale, one whole step above the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the supertonic note is sung as ''re''. The triad built on the supertonic note is called the supertonic ch ...

frequently appears with an

augmented fourth Augment or augmentation may refer to: Language *Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages *Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns i ...

. It is notated in

(2/4 time) and most frequently uses

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...

quarter note A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem ...

half note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.

s, and dotted

whole note A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow o ...

History

Baião originated sometime before the 20th century, reportedly among

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

peoples native to the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

. It later gradually incorporated elements of many other indigenous traditions, and

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

, African, and

European music The culture of Europe is rooted in its art, architecture, film, different types of music, economics, literature, and philosophy. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage". Definition ...

, as well as evolving a reputation as dance music. It is said by

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

Câmara Cascudo Luís da Câmara Cascudo (December 30, 1898 – July 30, 1986) was a Brazilian anthropologist, folklorist, journalist, historian, lawyer, and lexicographer. He was born in Natal, Northeast Brazil. He lived his entire life in Natal and de ...

to already have been a popular dance since at least the late 19th century, and to have been propelled into the mainstream by the 1946 success of

Luiz Gonzaga Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (standard orthography 'Luís'; ; Exu, December 13, 1912 – Recife, August 2, 1989) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician and poet and one of the most influential figures of Brazilian popular music in the twen ...

, which replaced a

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

fad in Brazil. Like early sertanejo and

caipira A Caipira () is an ethnic group native to Paulistânia, cultural area in Brazil, the term "''caipira''", of origin in the Paulista General language, probably influenced by the terms "''kai'pira''", "''ka'apir''", "''ka'a pora''" or "''kopira'' ...

music, baião and its subgenres are associated with rural living. Baião's reputation as rural music liked by lower-class people caused its avoidance by much of the urban upper class for much of the 20th century. Although previously not well known outside its native region, a conscious decision by 1960s MPB and Tropicália musicians to embrace and reference

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

saw a resurgence of baião rhythms. A key record in this revival was the 1967 album by Quarteto Novo. Despite the relatively small area of its greater popularity, a great variety of music is associated with baião, reflecting its status as

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and traditional dance in the Northeast. Some key artists are

and Selma do Côco, both hailing from Pernambuco,

Humberto Teixeira Humberto Cavalcanti de Albuquerque Teixeira (5 January 1915 – 3 October 1979) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, musician, and composer, mostly known for his partnership with musician Luiz Gonzaga. Together, they wrote one of the most impor ...

Sivuca Severino Dias de Oliveira (May 26, 1930 – December 14, 2006), known professionally as Sivuca, was a Brazilian accordionist, guitarist and singer. In addition to his home state of Paraíba, Brazil, and cities Recife and Rio de Janeiro, he worked ...

, Carmélia Alves,

Dominguinhos José Domingos de Morais (12 February 1941 – 23 July 2013), better known as Dominguinhos, was a Brazilian composer, accordionist and singer. His principal musical influences were the music of Luiz Gonzaga, Forró and in general the music of the ...

and repentistas such as Perdal Lins and Verde Lins.

In popular culture

Baião is featured in the 1951 Italian film ''

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

'' and is known both by its original name ''

El Negro Zumbón "El Negro Zumbón" (also known as "Anna") is a baião song written by Armando Trovajoli in 1951 for the film '' Anna'', directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring Silvana Mangano. In the movie, the song is performed in a night club scene by Mangano ...

'' (''The Jolly Black Man'') and as ''Anna's Baión''.

References

External links

* https://archive.today/20150311154937/http://www.musicgurus.com/lesson/baiao-rhythm-explanation-demonstration-part-1/ Romero Lubambo, famous Brazilian jazz guitarist, explains and demonstrates the Baião rhythm
Article with the history of baião
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-HNZLg6ntI

Silvana Mangano Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...

sings and dances El Negro Zumbón in ''

'' * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJolrxazBpM

Pink Martini Pink Martini is an American band that was founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as classical, latin, traditional pop, and jazz. The co-lead vo ...

sings El Negro Zumbón live at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZHjCeq1WQ Baión dancing lessons {{DEFAULTSORT:Baiao (Music) Brazilian styles of music