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| Atabaque | |
|---|---|
| Name | Atabaque |
| Classification | Membranophone |
| Hornbostel-Sachs | 211.26 |
| Related | Conga, Bongos, Timbal, Djembe, Surdo |
Atabaque is a tall, wooden hand drum associated with Afro-Brazilian religious and musical traditions. Originating from West and Central African membranophones, it became central to practices in Brazil, Portugal, and parts of the Caribbean. The instrument appears in ceremonial contexts, popular music, and folkloric ensembles, linking communities across the Atlantic to figures, movements, and institutions involved in the African diaspora.
The drum traces roots to West African instruments used by groups such as the Yoruba, Kongo, and Igbo, connecting to historical nodes like the transatlantic slave trade, the Kingdom of Dahomey, and coastal ports such as Salvador and Recife. In colonial Brazil, the atabaque emerged alongside cultural forms including Candomblé, Umbanda, Capoeira, and Afro-Brazilian Carnival traditions, intersecting with figures like Zumbi dos Palmares and institutions such as the Quilombo dos Palmares. Missionary accounts, plantation records, and abolitionist debates in the 19th century show the atabaque's role amid legal frameworks like the Lei Áurea and political movements surrounding Pedro II and the Empire of Brazil. Its diffusion extended to Lisbon, Havana, and New Orleans via maritime networks, trade routes, and cultural exchanges involving ensembles tied to the Casa das Minas, the Royal African Company, and later ethnomusicologists at universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and the University of São Paulo.
Traditional construction employs woods like jacaranda, ipê, and caviúna, with skins from goats, cows, or calves stretched over a cylindrical body. Makers combine joinery and lathing techniques similar to those used by luthiers for instruments associated with Antonio Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri, and Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, yet adapted to percussion needs. The shell dimensions produce variants often named according to Afro-Brazilian practice—rum, rumpi, and lê—paralleling classification systems used in organology by scholars at the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Museu Afro Brasil. Hardware innovations introduced metal tuning systems reminiscent of designs by Ludwig, Gretsch, and Remo, while decorative motifs recall iconography found in works by Tarsila do Amaral, Candido Portinari, and Aleijadinho.
Performers employ open-hand strokes, slaps, and palm-muted tones, executing patterns comparable to rhythms documented in studies by scholars at the Instituto de Etnomusicologia, the New Grove Dictionary, and the International Council for Traditional Music. Techniques intersect with movement vocabularies in Capoeira circles led by mestres such as Bimba and Pastinha, and with choreography codified in ballets by Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey when Afro-Brazilian diasporic themes are staged. Notation systems range from oral transmission to transcriptions in collections curated by Heitor Villa-Lobos, John Coltrane, and Steve Reich; pedagogy appears in curricula at the Berklee College of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
The instrument plays a sacramental role in rites of Candomblé, Umbanda, and religious brotherhoods like the Irmandade de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, linking to saints such as Xangô, Oxum, and Iemanjá. It accompanies rituals at terreiros affiliated with leaders including Mãe Menininha, Pai Jéronimo, and other sacerdotal figures, and forms part of ceremonies that attracted attention from ethnographers like Gilberto Freyre and Roger Bastide. The atabaque's presence in liturgical life parallels liturgical music traditions of cathedrals such as São Bento and monasteries like Mosteiro de São Bento, while its symbolism has been discussed in works by authors including Jorge Amado, Clarice Lispector, and Abdias do Nascimento.
Beyond religious settings, the drum is integrated into genres and ensembles spanning Samba schools associated with Mangueira and Portela, brass bands modeled after the Banda de Pífanos, and modern fusion groups that collaborate with artists like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Hermeto Pascoal. It appears in recordings alongside musicians from the Tropicália movement, in jazz sessions that feature Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and in world music projects involving Paul Simon and Ry Cooder. The drum also participates in theater productions at Teatro Municipal, festivals such as Carnaval and the Festival de Parintins, and in ensembles focused on preservation—sometimes in orchestral settings curated by conductors like Claudio Abbado and John Williams.
Renowned players and builders include craftspeople and percussionists who worked within traditions connected to Mestre Bimba, Lia de Itamaracá, Naná Vasconcelos, Airto Moreira, and Baden Powell de Aquino. Workshops and luthiers associated with traditions have been documented by institutions such as the Museu do Som, the Fundação Palmares, and craft networks in Salvador, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro. Ethnomusicologists and cultural promoters like Judith Becker, Bruno Nettl, and Paul Berliner have recorded performances and oral histories that highlight master drummers and makers sustaining the instrument's lineage.
Category:Brazilian musical instruments Category:Percussion instruments Category:Afro-Brazilian culture