Pandeiro
A frame drum with jingles played by hand; the 'complete drum kit' of samba and choro.
37 instruments
Brazilian instruments
What you are hearing: the instruments that give each Brazilian genre its identity and, at the end, the instruments played worldwide that Brazilian music made its own.
Percussion 23
Tamborim
A small drum struck with a multi-rod stick; it plays the rhythmic figures of the samba schools.
Surdo
The deep bass drum that marks samba's second beat; the heart of the bateria.
Cuíca
A friction drum with an inner rod that 'cries' and 'laughs'; samba's unmistakable sound.
Agogô
Two or more metal bells of different pitches, of Yoruba origin.
Repinique / hand repique
A high-pitched drum that calls the bateria; in pagode it is played by hand.
Tantã
A deep hand drum created in Fundo de Quintal's pagode to replace the surdo.
Zabumba
A shallow bass drum played with a mallet and a thin stick; the base of the forró trio.
Triangle
The third member of the forró trio, marking the high-pitched time.
Alfaia
A rope-tuned wooden drum of maracatu, played with thick sticks; it electrified manguebeat.
Timbau
A light, high-pitched conical drum popularized by Carlinhos Brown and Timbalada.
Atabaque
The Afro-Brazilian drum of candomblé, capoeira and the afro blocos.
Ganzá and chocalho
Metal or gourd shakers that fill out samba and coco.
Reco-reco
A spring or bamboo scraper found in samba and afoxé.
Curimbó
A hollowed-log drum that gives Pará's carimbó its name.
Matraca and pandeirão
Wooden clappers and giant frame drums of Maranhão's bumba-meu-boi.
Plate and knife
A plate scraped with a knife, keeping the rhythm of samba de roda.
Caixa (snare drum)
The snare drum of the samba school batería.
Caxixi
A woven-straw shaker filled with seeds, accompanying the berimbau in capoeira.
Afoxé (instrument)
A gourd wrapped in a net of beads, shaken or twisted in the hands.
Xequerê
A large bead-covered gourd of Yoruba origin.
Maracá
A gourd rattle used in the rituals of many Indigenous peoples.
Tambor de crioula drums
The three drums (grande, meião and crivador) of the tambor de crioula dance in Maranhão.
Strings 10
Cavaquinho
A small four-steel-string instrument, cousin of the ukulele; it plays the rhythmic harmony of samba and choro.
Seven-string guitar
A guitar with an extra low string for the bass runs of choro and samba.
Viola caipira
Ten strings in five courses, a Portuguese inheritance; the voice of caipira music and repente.
Bandolim (mandolin)
Choro's soloist since Jacob do Bandolim; Hamilton de Holanda plays the ten-string version.
Guitarra baiana
A long-neck electric cavaquinho invented by Dodô & Osmar for the trio elétrico.
Berimbau
An African-origin musical bow with a gourd resonator; it leads the capoeira circle and entered jazz with Naná Vasconcelos.
Rabeca
A rustic northeastern fiddle used in forró and rural maracatu.
Viola de cocho
A viola carved from a single piece of wood, accompanying siriri and cururu in Mato Grosso.
Viola machete
The small viola of the samba de roda of Bahia's Recôncavo.
Banjo
A banjo with a cavaquinho neck and tuning, popularized in Fundo de Quintal's pagode.
Winds 3
Pífano
A bamboo flute of the pífano bands of the rural Northeast.
Apito (whistle)
The three-tone whistle of the bateria master commands the samba school.
Berrante (cattle horn)
A horn made of ox horns, blown by drovers to lead the herd; it echoes in sertanejo songs and at rodeos.
Keys 1
Sanfona / accordion
Luiz Gonzaga's instrument; in the South, the button 'gaita-ponto' leads the vanerão.
Popular instruments in Brazilian music 14
Instruments played all over the world that took on a Brazilian accent.
Acoustic guitar
The most played instrument in the country; the base of samba, bossa nova, MPB and sertanejo, from João Gilberto and Baden Powell to Yamandu Costa.
Electric guitar
Arrived with Jovem Guarda and Tropicália and became the voice of rock and of Pará's guitarrada.
Electric bass
From Luizão Maia's swing with Elis Regina to Champignon's slap in Charlie Brown Jr.
Double bass
The foundation of samba-jazz and of bossa nova trios.
Violin
Found in orchestras, in romantic sertanejo arrangements and in northeastern armorial music.
Drum kit
Luciano Perrone and Edison Machado adapted samba to the kit; from samba-jazz to Sepultura's metal.
Piano and keyboard
From Tom Jobim's and Johnny Alf's piano to the keyboard of electronic forró and piseiro.
Synthesizer
Defined 1980s pop-rock and underpins funk, tecnobrega and electronic music.
Saxophone
Pixinguinha moved to tenor sax in the 1940s; heard in choro, gafieira and Banda Black Rio's soul.
Flute
Choro's soloist since the 19th century, from Pixinguinha to Altamiro Carrilho.
Clarinet
A voice of choro and of frevo orchestras; Abel Ferreira and Paulo Moura.
Trumpet
The brass of frevo, gafieira, axé and electronic forró.
Trombone
Raul de Souza took the Brazilian trombone into jazz; essential in frevo and gafieira.
Harmonica
The harmonica of blues and rock; Rildo Hora brought it into samba.