Berimbau - Design

Design

The berimbau consists of a wooden bow (verga – traditionally made from biribá wood, which grows in Brazil), about 4 to 5 feet long (1.2 to 1.5 m), with a steel string (arame – often pulled from the inside of an automobile tire) tightly strung and secured from one end of the verga to the other. A gourd (cabaça), dried, opened and hollowed-out, attached to the lower portion of the Verga by a loop of tough string, acts as a resonator.

Since the 1950s, Brazilian berimbaus have been painted in bright colors, following local Bahian/Brazilian taste; today, most makers follow the tourist consumer's quest for (pretended) authenticity, and use clear varnish and discreet decoration.

To play the berimbau, one holds it in one hand, wrapping the two middle fingers around the verga, and placing the little finger under the cabaça's string loop (the "anel"), and balancing the weight there. A small stone or coin (pedra or dobrão) is held between the index and thumb of the same hand that holds the berimbau. The cabaça is rested against the abdomen. In the other hand, one holds a stick (baqueta or "vaqueta" – usually wooden, very rarely made of metal) and a shaker (caxixi). One strikes the arame with the vaqueta to produce the sound. The caxixi accompanies the vaqueta. The dobrão is moved back and forth from the arame to change the pitch produced by the berimbau. The sound can also be altered by moving the cabaça back and forth from the abdomen, producing a wah-like sound.

Parts and accessories of the berimbau:

• Verga: Wooden bow that makes up the main body of the Berimbau.
• Arame: Steel string.
• Cabaça: Opened, dried and hollowed out gourd-like fruit secured to the lower portion of the berimbau, used to amplify and resonate the sound.

Calling the Cabaça a gourd is technically a mistake. As far as Brazilian berimbaus are concerned, the fruit used for the berimbau's resonator, while still known in Brazil as 'cabaça', is not technically a gourd (family Cucurbitaceae); instead, it is the fruit of an unrelated species, the tree Crescentia cujete (family Bignoniaceae), known in Brazil as calabaça, cueira and cuia (ref.: O Estado de São Paulo, 6–12 April 2011, Suplemento Agrícola, page 2) or cabaceira (Houaiss Dictionary).

• Pedra or Dobrão: Small stone or coin pressed against the arame to change the tone of the berimbau.
• Baqueta: Small stick struck against the arame to produce the sound.
• Caxixí: Small rattle that optionally accompanies the baqueta in the same hand.

Capoeiristas split berimbaus in three categories:

• Berra-boi or gunga: lowest tone.
• Médio (others say viola): medium tone.
• Viola (violinha if the medium tone is viola): highest tone

These categories relate to sound, not to size. The berimbau's quality does not depend on the length of the verga or the size of the gourd, rather on the diameter and hardness of the verga's wood and the quality of the gourd.