18th International Meeting

StubickeToplice
Croatia

13-17 April, 2011

at the invitation of

Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku

Nana Zeh, 
Germany/Brazil
nana@rio-production.de

The Brazilian Cuica: the percussion instrument which plays melodies

In this paper I would like to speak about the cuíca, a Brazilian percussion instrument. Thinking of an instrument which imitates songs or human voice, the cuíca is a good example, even being a percussion instrument and not a chordophone or aerophone. The friction drum — found in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas — is primarily a ritual instrument, religious or profane. In most cultures, this drum has a grumbled sound, like the Rummelpott in Germany, but in Brazilian samba music, sophisticated techniques were developed for the cuíca and different sounds as in other cultures (and even different from other regions in Brazil where it´s used with the name puíta or roncador). The instrument reached a very important position in samba music; today a cuíca is one of the most typical instruments of this cultural manifestation, taking part in its identity. Normally the cuíca is played with two high notes in samba music, but famous "cuiqueiros" (cuíca players) play melodies like football or national hymns. Beside the melodies the cuíca can imitate human voices with sounds like laughing, crying, grumbling etc. In Brazil the cuíca is featured in many songs as one the most characteristic sound identities of samba.
It´s interesting how an instrument, present nearly all over the world as a grumbling percussion sound instrument, can be promoted to a solo instrument in performances in one single culture.