Thursday, July 02, 2020

Pandeiro Transcription - Bira Presidente, "Vai Lá, Vai Lá"

The last two pandeiro transcription posts owe a whole lot to the guy in today's transcription, Bira Presidente.  Bira is their pandeiro player, and one of the founding members, of Fundo de Quintal, which is generally considered to be the first pagode group.  

Fundo de Quintal pioneered the use of the tantan and repique de mão in samba, and groups have been modeling themselves on Quintal since the 80s.  Bira's style of pandeiro playing was also incredibly new and unique when Quintal first hit the scene in the late 70s.  Much of the partido alto style of playing pandeiro (which is not the same as the partido alto rhythm that most drumset players learn) can be traced back to Bira, including the last two transcriptions on this blog.  Let's look at a few of the Bira trademarks before moving on to the entire transcription.

This first groove is a Bira trademark.  In today's transcription he plays it as the main material throughout the tune.  There is a second pandeiro on this recording, though, that is playing consistent 16th notes throughout.  In the last two transcriptions the players played 16th notes in the verses, and this Bira groove in the chorus.

It's commonly played like this:





Or with a small variation, like this:






Although we won't see it in today's transcription, I should mention this other groove which can also be played a couple of different ways:









This groove is often called "partido alto" (again, not the same as the partido alto rhythm) and will often serve as an intro to a tune.  It's not uncommon to hear this groove being played in the verses, and Bira's groove above being played in the chorus; or you may hear both of these played at the same time with each pandeiro panned hard to opposite sides of the mix which creates a very cool chatter.

Finally, there are two variations that Bira is credited with that can be dropped in either of the above grooves.  Look for both of these in the transcription below.













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