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Go Samba Guided samba tours to Rio de Janeiro. https://gosamba.net/pages/samba-adventure-2025
360° videos of Rio's baterias.

Brazilian percussion instruments sales at gosamba.net

02/11/2026

Imperatriz repique de bossa players at Salgueiro.

See YouTube for the complete esquenta.

31/10/2026

Powerful start to Salgueiro's 2027 samba!

Bateria Furiosa

02/10/2026

Last chance to join us in Rio this November and December!

We take a small group of folks to Rio's samba schools to learn directly from the Bateria Mestres and Directors.
🌴🥁✨
Don't miss out on a trip of a lifetime!

We're holding a final Google Meet to discuss details and answer your questions. Come see if this trip is right for you!

(Linktr.ee in Bio)

Sunday Oct. 11th, 6:00 PM PST

More info in QR code on screen!
🌴🥁✨

This was recorded during our Rio Samba Adventure Tour last year. Stepping from the bright Rio sunlight into the dark sha...
29/09/2026

This was recorded during our Rio Samba Adventure Tour last year.

Stepping from the bright Rio sunlight into the dark shady quadra of Estácio de Sá during the always feels like entering a sanctuary of samba history. Known as the berço do samba (the birthplace of samba), because it is the first samba school that ever existed. Estácio's bateria, Medalha de Ouro, has a distinct identity, hard drive, and swing that is known all across Rio de Janeiro.

In this exclusive breakdown, Mestre Chuvisco alongside directors Magrão and Bolota walk us through the inner workings of their core sections:

Caixa em Cima: Magrão breaks down their distinct 3-bar pattern held high at shoulder height. Notice how crispy tight the caixa strings and head are tuned! You'll hear Mestre Chuvisco refer to the 12" caixa as the "caixa de guerra". Translated literally "War Caixa". I'm honestly not really sure where this name comes from by I can imagine that since snare type drums worn on a strap were very popular in the military campaigns it got it's name from there? But I don't actually know for sure.

Repique Traditional Levada: Mestre Chuvisco plays the basic Estácio repique patterns slowly before bringing it up to speed, mentioning that their levadas are played in the center of the drum head. He also shows several unique syncopated variations that you see a lot in my 360 Estácio videos.

Surdo de Terceira: Bolota demonstrates how the terceira players need to be very very good percussionists because they are bringing the balanço and molho (that essential flavor/swing) to the rest of the bateria.

The Esquenta Tradicional: They show how Estácio kicks off their warm-up, starting with the foundational caixa de guerra, layering in the repique, and then the surdo de terceira before the entire bateria comes to life.

I recorded this video during our Rio Samba Adventure last November.

13/09/2026

Step onto the concrete floor of Portela's quadra, where the resonant low end of the surdo de primeira vibrates through the air and decades of samba heritage echo off the blue-and-white walls.

In this exclusive breakdown, Junior Sampaio, bateria director at Portela, walks us through the evolving history and acoustic science of bateria tuning. From the early "primitive era" when drumheads were tuned over open flame, to the modern standardized pitch techniques used to harmonize surdos with the Brazilian National Anthem ("Ouviram do Ipiranga"), a perfect 5th interval. Sampaio demonstrates the exact hands-on method Portela uses today. Learn about the legacy of tuning pioneers like João Maluco, Mestre Rodney, and Claudinho Meião, and discover how pitch accuracy became a defining element of Rio’s Carnaval competition as the samba schools started to lose points for badly tuned baterias.

Many thanks to Junior Sampaio for sharing his knowledge with me.

0:00 - Introduction: Meeting Portela’s Junior Sampaio
0:22 - The Pioneers of Bateria Tuning (João Maluco, Mestre Rodney, Claudinho)
1:10 - From Open Flames to Modern Tuning Precision
2:19 - When Carnaval Judges Started Scoring Bateria Pitch (Circa 2000)
2:39 - Using the Brazilian National Anthem ("Ouviram") to Tune Surdos
2:50 - Live Demonstration: Tuning a Surdo at Portela Quadra
3:44 - The Signature Sound of Portela Bateria
4:12 - Experience Rio Samba Culture with Go Samba

This past January the current "chave" Junior Sampaio met me at the Portela quadra earlier to talk about bateria tuning, ...
13/09/2026

This past January the current "chave" Junior Sampaio met me at the Portela quadra earlier to talk about bateria tuning, specifically surdo tuning. He talks about the history and his influences and when the samba schools really started differentiating from one another based on tuning. I just released the video this morning.
It has taken me a couple of years to get a chave to speak on camera with me about this specific topic. I'm really happy to have been able to make it happen and bring this info to you.

You can find it on the Go Samba YouTube channel!

My Patreon supporters got an early look at this now it's your turn!

01/07/2026

Hey folks!
I’m hosting a live Q&A tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 PM PST to talk about the upcoming Rio Samba tours—the drummers' intensive and the cultural immersion trip. Going to go over itineraries, lodging, and answer all of your burning questions. If you're curios about going to Rio with us, sign up for more info here:
https://forms.gle/pRNb8yRyQi9HDCZc6

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