The Boi de Zabumba” (Zabumba’s Ox), also known as the Guimarães Accent or Baixada Accent, had its origin in the municipality of Guimarães, in the coast of the state of Maranhão, northeast Brazil. This rhythm, also called accent, is characterized by the presence of zabumbas (bass, mid and high drums), as well as other percussion instruments: pandeirinho or repinicadores (kind of very little drum) and maracás (kind of shaker). This accent is perhaps the oldest accent of the Maranhão “Ox” and the one that most maintains its tradition. For this reason, it was almost extinct a few years ago because of current cultural policies. Since 1994 it happens “Bumba Meu Boi de Zabumba Festival” that takes place annually in Maranhão. It was created by master Basilio Durans to rescue the roots of Zabumba accent in order to not be extinguished. Check out the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHCV3-WVu3U&t=594s Basically, Zabumba's Ox Accent is played this way: Drum adaptations are transpositions of instruments that have a certain familiarity of tuning and timbre, so that the rhythm resembles as much as possible when played by a single musician, and one of the ways I hear it goes like this:   You can check out the rhythm of the drums-adapted "Boi de Zabumba" in the video below:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuNYZFJdjBM   Since there are no rules on how to adapt Brazilian rhythms to the drums, you can listen to the "Boi de Zabumba" and, while doing so, you can explore your own creativity and develop the rhythms presented here in your own way.   See you soon, Lui   Leandro Lui has a specialization in Brazilian popular music and a bachelor’s degree in drums. Perform with Santo André Symphony Orchestra as percussionist, Filarmônica de Pasárgada as drummer, professor at the Mozarteum College of Music and author of the books “Dialects, ten duets for two drum sets on the brazilian rhythmic imaginary”, “Takano, for two drum-sets” and co-author of the book “10 by 2, studies for two drum-sets”. Leandro Lui is an artist  Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals, Nagano Drums and Contemporânea Percussion. www.leandrolui.com.br      

Hello! It is with great pleasure that I have decided to start some articles here in this Blog at the invitation of Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals. I am a Brazilian drummer who also plays percussion. In my texts, I intend to explore some rhythms of my Country, which are originally performed at Brazilian Folklore festivities. My goal here is to avoid going into deep research of the origin and reason for each specific rhythm. Likewise, I do not intend to explore the religious connotation involved, since many of these rhythms have this relationship, but rather show how Brazilian percussion can be adapted for drums in order to increase our Grooves repertoire. Because Brazil is a Country with continental dimensions and diverse cultures, I will attempt to explore the main rhythms performed in each region. It is a good idea to clarify thatBrazilian culture is supported by three pillars: indigenous, African and European, as well as a mix of both. All three form our culture. I will begin with a rhythm performed in the Northeast region of Brazil called "BOI," which in English is the animal "OX.” In a very simplified way, it carries this name because the story behind it tells about the death and resurrection of the Ox. In Maranhão, there are a few variations of the "Boi" like the “Boi de Zabumba,” the “Boi Costa de Mão,” and the one illustrated here - the “Boi de Pindaré.”It is performed by instruments called "Pandeirões," "Matracas," "Onça" and "Ganzás" - as shown in the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezrq_qNOfyc Sheet Music:  It is good to keep in mind that the adaptations are transpositions from bass and treble instruments to bass and treble drums, so the rhythm looks like this:

Sheet Music:

You can check the groove of the “Boi de Pindaré” in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSEdkHJhlM8   Since there are no rules on how to adapt Brazilian rhythms to drums, you can listen to the “Boi de Pindaré” and, while you do so, you may want to explore your own creativity and develop the rhythms presented here your way. See you soon, Lui.www.leandrolui.com.br  

Hello and welcome to a lesson where we will be having a look at a different way of approaching a 12/8 feel.  We will be applying a 2 over 3 feel in the right hand giving a fresh feel and sound to  this classic feel.    Hello and welcome to a lesson where we will be having a look at a different way of approaching a 12/8 feel.  We will be applying a 2 over 3 feel in the right hand giving a fresh feel and sound to  this classic feel.  1) So to start off we are just playing the basic 12/8 style.  I have written it in triplets as it will make the following exercises a little clearer.  Even if you feel confident with this style, do your due diligence and warm up this groove and make sure it is feeling relaxed and sounding good before moving on to the next exercises. 2) In the next example we start applying the first of our two polyrhythmic approaches.  In essence it is a very simple idea.  We are just playing every other triplet partial.  We are just playing a basic groove underneath this.  Take your time and make sure you get this feeling good.  I would recommend alternating between this and example 1 along with a metronome. 3) In the third example, lets start adding in some extra bass drums.   4) Next up we are adding in some bass drums and ghosted snare notes.  We are really filling in the gaps between the hats a lot more now which has two effects.  Firstly, I think it gives it a slicker feel that rolls round nicely.  This is due to filling in the subdivisions more so your brain feels the triplet pulse easier.  Secondly, as we have a lot of notes that don't fall with the hihat, it is easy to feel the backbeat as an off beat rather than where it actually falls on beats 2 and 4.  If you struggle to hear the groove as it should be, try alternating between this and example 1. 5) In example 5 we go back to the basic grove and displace the right hand by one 8th note triplet partial.  This means that beats 1 and 3 are now on their own and the snares on 2 and 4, now have the hihat falling in unison with the snare.  Once you have this feeling good, go aback and alternate between this and example 1. 6) In example 6 we are going to add some bass drums in and make this feel a bit more like a groove.  7) Finally we are going to fill up the groove a bit with some bass drums and ghosted snare notes.  As with example 4, the more notes we add, the easier it is to feel the triplet subdivision rolling underneath.  https://youtu.be/Ozo17GgOL0E I hope you enjoyed that lesson, see you next time.

Hello and welcome to a lesson where we will be combining the half time shuffle with some 6-stroke roll fill ideas.   We have covered both of these parts individually in a bit more depth already so if you haven't worked through those lessons, I recommend going back and working on them now.  In the following exercises I have only written the ideas on the snare but once you have them down, start moving them around the kit.  1) In this first exercise we are playing a bar of the half time shuffle and a bars worth of the 6-stoke roll as 8th note triplets.  Note that we are playing an open hihat on beat 4 of the first bar.  This is just there to help us transition a little easier into the 6-stroke roll.  As always take your time and increase the tempo slowly.  2) Next up we have almost the same as in 1 but the fill is now one 6-stroke roll and one “inverted” 6-stroke.  Really focus on your dynamics during the fill and make sure you are only accenting the accented notes. 3) In the third example, during the fill, we are now playing a 6-stroke roll followed by two groups of RLL.    4) In the final example we have combined the fills from 2 and 3 and created a four bar phrase.  Really try and focus on your dynamics and make your ghost notes in the groove a similar volume to the unaccented notes of the fills.  https://youtu.be/AWsmQL0VG9E I hope you enjoyed that lesson, see you next time.