Groove Transcription - Marcio Bahia, "Minas"

It might just be coincidence, but there seems to be a trend among Brazilian drummers - at least the ones I listen to - of taking African or Afro-Caribbean bell patterns, and shifting the emphasized notes from where we college jazz program graduate gringoes would play them.  You might remember seeing the post on Kiko Freitas playing the Edu Lobo tune "Vento Bravo".

This time around it's former Hermeto Pacoal and current Hamilton de Holanda drummer, Marcio Bahia, who I've written about before.  Along with bassist Eduardo Machado, and pianist Gil Reis, the trio released an album last year called simply, "Em Tres".

There are two similar grooves here, mainly differentiated by what's going on in the right hand.

The groove itself is in 9/8 or 3/4, and feels pretty much like your standard Bembé minus one beat.  Bahia plays the Bembé pattern pretty much by the book on the ride cymbal throughout the first section.  But in the second bar, much like Kiko Freitas does on "Vento Bravo", he then shifts the bass drum to the third 8th note of beat 1.

The next section has a very cool little twist to it.  For the most part the bass and snare drum parts stay the same, save a few extra ghost notes.  But, now moving to the hi-hat, Bahia plays quarter notes in the right hand (or in his case, the left) and accents every other note.  So although the main groove is only two measures long, it now takes four bars to resolve.

I don't have a link that I can post, but the album is on Spotify if that's you're thing.