In the world of Rio de Janeiro’sCarnaval, you can tell which samba school bateria is playing just by sound alone. Several factors go into this but a crucial element of that signature sound is how the bateria tunes its drums. I met with my teacher Junior Sampaio, bateria director at Portela, inside the iconic blue and white quadra to explore the historical evolution of bateria tuning and get a live demonstration of how surdos are tuned today. The Evolution of Samba Tuning: From Flames to Pitch Precision Historically, bateria instruments were tuned over open flames to tighten goat skin heads before rehearsals and parades. As Junior Sampaio explains, tuning was far less standardized in earlier decades, with each ritmista maintaining their...
 Congratulations you just invested in a new drum! A new buddy in your future samba adventures!!! With a little bit of care and love this drum will be with you a very long time!  I’ve outlined a few tips that will help get you started: Wax the rods and nuts I hate the feeling of tuning my drum and the nut feels too stiff and hard to turn. It feels like I’m grinding metal off the bolt and messing everything up. There is a solution to this! Use a little bit of beeswax or machine oil on the rods and nuts this will lube them up allowing them to turn nice and smooth. It also prevents wear and tear...
This is a quick overview of the role of the surdo in a bateria. I will explain the drum sizes, patterns played, and the mallets straps typically used when playing surdos. The surdo is the the deep bassy heartbeat of samba. Their essential function is to mark the time for the bateria and dancers. But their effect on the ensemble is massive. A good surdo crew fills the samba with life and energy, but will also hold it down if things start to rush and speed up. The first samba drum you hear as a bateria approaches from a distance is the surdo. These are the biggest and deepest pitched drums of the ensemble. Three surdo sizes Generally samba groups...
