LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Last year, Brazil lost one of its most famous musicians, Nana Vasconcelos.
(SOUNDBITE OF NANA VASCONCELOS COMPOSITION)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He put this instrument, the berimbau, on the world's musical map. It's kind of bow with a gourd attached. And it is the inspiration for a new album, "MeiaMeia: New Music For Berimbau," by the group Arcomusical. The album is dedicated to Nana Vasconcelos, and it features a whole range of berimbau instruments.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCOMUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF GREGORY BEYER'S "BERIMBAU SEXTET NO. 1, 'KORA'")
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Gregory Beyer is artistic director of Arcomusical. He's also an associate professor and head of percussion studies at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. And he joins us from the studios of WNIU. Hi.
GREGORY BEYER: Hi. How are you?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm good. You brought a berimbau with you. Can you give us a quick demonstration?
BEYER: Delighted to. I actually have two instruments here - a traditional instrument, the likes of which you heard Nana Vasconcelos playing just there in the audio clip. It sounds like this (playing berimbau). And then I have another instrument, which the group Projeto Arcomusical plays on the recording "MeiaMeia." This particular instrument's tuned a little bit higher. It sounds like this (playing berimbau).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Such an interesting pair of instruments. You know, they have African roots. Their use blossomed in Brazil in capoeira, the Brazilian martial art, in Afro-Brazilian religions. What intrigues you about their history?
BEYER: The instrument's history is extremely deep. Cave paintings depict people with musical bows thousands of years ago. But the more recent history shows that the instrument has its tradition among the Bantu-speaking peoples throughout the region of southern Africa.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, this album is called "MeiaMeia," which means half and half in Portuguese. So half of the compositions are written by you, half by Alexis Lamb. She was your student, and she's now Arcomusical's co-director. Let's listen to a bit of her piece called "Um So."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCOMUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF ALEXIS LAMB'S "UM SO")
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So along with the berimbau, there's another rattle-y (ph) percussion instrument we're hearing. What is that?
BEYER: That's called the caxixi. It's a small woven basket with a piece of gourd on the bottom. And so when you throw it in different directions, it articulates the urshat (ph) or seed inside the basket. And when you throw it down, you get a very sharp sound against the gourd. When you throw it to the side, you get a very soft sound against the wicker.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let's talk a little bit about Nana Vasconcelos. When I was based in Brazil I did have the opportunity to interview him once in Recife. A huge talent, a great legend and a wonderful raconteur. You spent time with him at his home in Recife. What did he tell you about how he used this instrument?
BEYER: When he moved from the Northeast to Rio de Janeiro to work specifically with Milton Nascimento, he moved into a small apartment where his drum set was no longer acceptable to his neighbors. And so the berimbau became an ersatz drum set for him. He started practicing it in the late hours.
And he realized that he actually could play drum set-like sounds on the instrument. He had low notes, he had high notes, low notes that would represent a bass drum, high notes that would represent a snare drum. And the caxixi was something of a high hat. And he put all these things together and created just an incredibly inspired performance style that was like nothing that anyone had heard before. He really pioneered a new virtuosic style of music making with the instrument.
(SOUNDBITE OF NANA VASCONCELOS COMPOSITION)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: For those of our audience who may have never been in northeastern Brazil or Brazil at all, describe what northeastern Brazil is like, the place that, you know, gave birth to Nana Vasconcelos and so many other musicians.
BEYER: Well, Brazil is a vast territory, right? So to speak of different regions is necessary because we cannot talk about Brazil as a single unit. I mean, the berimbau really grew up not so much where Nana is from in Recife, but rather in Salvador, in the capital city of Bahia.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right next door.
BEYER: Exactly. Yeah, the state just to the south and west. And because Salvador was a huge port of entry for the transatlantic slave trade, when you travel to Salvador you really are stepping into effectively a kind of an African city. It really feels that way. It feels remarkably different than being in Sao Paulo, than being in Rio de Janeiro, this kind of thing.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let's listen to one more of your compositions. This is part of the berimbau quartet.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCOMUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF GREGORY BEYER'S "BERIMBAU QUARTET NO. 1, 'CHIP'")
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're not Brazilian.
BEYER: No.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And Brazilians are very proud, fiercely proud of their musical and cultural heritage. What has been the reaction from them to, you know, your music?
BEYER: Well, just after the recording sessions of "MeiaMeia," through the generosity of Northern Illinois University I raised enough funding to take the group Projeto Arcomusical with me on my first month in Brazil. And we performed in Brazil six times, in Minas Gerais and in Bahia. And the last performance was the most meaningful because we went to a place called the Barracao D'Angola, which is run by, as it turns out, my very first teacher of the berimbau, whom I met in New York City, Mr. Cabello (ph).
And Mr. Cabello, when I first met him, I played some of my transcriptions of Nana Vasconcelos for him. And he was happy, but he looked at me and he said, you know, Greg, you've learned well, but you are not Nana Vasconcelos. What are you going to do with the berimbau that will give something new to the world? And I was angry because I was like, man, I want to be Nana Vasconcelos. You don't understand.
But then I realized - you know, maybe a week later I realized he challenged me. And you're right about the pride of Brazilian people. But everyone - unanimously, I would say - came up to us and said, you know, we thought we knew this instrument. We had no idea how beautiful it could be.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Greg Beyer is artistic director of Arcomusical. Their new album is called "MeiaMeia: New Music For Berimbau." He joined us from the studios of WNIU in DeKalb, Ill. Thanks so much for being with us.
BEYER: Really my pleasure, Lulu.