Leonardo Lucini is a Brazilian teacher and musician who has been studying and conducting research into Brazilian folklore. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Lucini plays electric and double bass with his own band Origem, a Washington DC-based group that plays original Brazilian jazz. In Brazil, he performed with well-known groups such as Nó Em Pingo D'Agua, saxophonist Paulo Moura and the Orquesta de Música Brasileira. Lucini is currently completing a Master's degree program in music at Howard University in Washington, DC.
Recently we participated in a musical workshop conducted by Lucini, in which he explained many of the rhythms of Northeastern Brazil, particularly the baião, and its influence over better known Brazilian rhythms such as forró.
Clave: What is the baião and where does it originate?
L: The baião is a rhythm that although is not very well known outside Brazil, has enormous influence over much of modern Brazilian music. The traditional instrumental baião is a musical form based on an ancient figure dance or ballroom dance of European origin. We can use Ceará, a Northeastern state in Brazil, as point of reference for the origin of this form, although it developed through most of the Northeast. In the Northeast region of Brazil this form was played by local bands that performed in salons and in private parties and at different celebrations. The original instrumentation of these was one or two lead pífanos, -small hand-carved bamboo flutes- a zabumba -a large bass drum-, and other minor percussion instruments. This instrumentation became standard in the performance of traditional instrumental baião, for which these bands got to be known as “Bandas de Pífanos.”
Clave: What are main rhythmic, melodic and harmonic characteristics of the baião?
L: The rhythmic pattern is defined by the zabumba drum. The zabumba has skin on both sides. It is played with a mallet on one side to produce an open bass tone, and with a stick on the other side to produce a higher pitched sound. The stick is played on the rim. The result is a syncopated 2-4 rhythm.
The traditional baião melodies are based on a Lydian flat 7th scale, a scale derived from the tuning of the pífano flute, which has a raised 4th and flattened 7th. The chord structure is based on a Dominant 7th chord. In the 1930s and 1940s, tunes like "O Baião" by Luiz Gonzaga made these chords a standard in baião music.
Clave : When were the first baião songs composed?
L: As it happened in most Latin American countries, the development of popular and folkloric music is marked by the presence of the radio in the 1940s. Therefore, we can talk about two different phases of baião -before and after the radio. Before the radio, the baião was mainly traditional and instrumental, and very local. Radio brought first the urbanization and then the commercialization of the baião, as it became popular in the whole country for the first time.
Clave : Who were the performers who made baião popular?
L: Luiz Gonzaga is credited with being the inventor of modern baião as we know it today. Luiz Gonzaga was a musician from the northeastern sertão who played the accordion and composed many beautiful tunes. During the 1940s he got into a radio program in which he played baião with the accordion, accompanied by an orchestra with chorinho instrumentation -guitar and cavaquinho- and some minor percussion. They also incorporated wood blocks (taken from the American Westerns) and later the triangle for a fast polyrythmic music good for dancing typical lively Brazilian music. That was a big hit.
Gonzaga recorded several singles and his success continued until the early 1950s. There were many other important musicians who played baião; some of the best known are Jackson do Pandeiro and Valdir Azevedo, who was a very good cavaquinho player. Azevedo recorded "Delicado," the first instrumental baião recorded outside Brazil, which became a big hit in Europe and made baião popular outside Brazil. Then by the mid 1950s, the baião became out of style as the influence of jazz and American music increased in Brazil. The urban population fell for American and other foreign music which was being heavily promoted by the radio and by the big recording companies. However, during the 1970s, Gonzaga's baião was revived when Tropicália movement artists such as Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil praised Gonzaga's artistry. Caetano even recorded the famous baião tune "Asa Branca," as an homage to Gonzaga.
Clave : What would you say is the status of the baião today?
L: Nowadays baião is more popular in the Northeast of Brazil than in Southern cities such as Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo where samba is more prominent. However, in the past few years, lots of people from the Northeast have migrated to urban centers such as Rio and São Paulo looking for better jobs. They bring with them their musical traditions, for which nowadays it is not uncommon to find small baião combos (zabumba, accordion, vocals and sometimes bass) performing on weekends in public places such as the Feira de São Critovão in Rio or Praça da Sé in São Paulo, or even in night clubs between sets of a “top forty” orchestra or on a DJ's break.
Baião is also a popular feature in contemporary instrumental music in Brazil and the U.S., with artists such as Joe Henderson, Chick Corea and Hermeto Pascoal using this exciting Brazilian rhythm in their compositions and recordings. Baião is alive and is an important part of our music.
Leonardo Lucini is currently playing with Origem at several area clubs in Washington, DC. Origem has just recorded its first album, which has all original Brazilian jazz compositions and arrangements. For more information, call (301) 434-4104 or by e-mail to
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