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The ganza

("Shaker", aluminum or steel cylinder filled with beads or sand, single or double (connected by two bars to make more noise)):

There is a natural hierarchy of learning batucada instruments. Because each player must be able, after only a few notes listening to situate themselves in relation to any other instrument alone. Indeed, all batucadas not consist of all instruments, the more it allows not be disturbed by the superposition of the 15 different voices of the polyrhythm and play progressive introduction or isolate a small group of instruments at some moments, to break the monotony.

The ganza, an instrument that is played by "shaking", inspired from Indian maracas or African calabash, is the first level of this hierarchy. Whoever fails to control its basic rhythm and to correctly place on the tempo of other instruments, should not pretend to start another instrument according to Carlinhos Brown .

However, even a simple ganza, placed in the hands of an expert, can perform complex rhythms such as "bossa nova" or "tamborim" (any rhythm, in fact). The principle of "back and forth" added by a mastery of the accent, identical in back as in forth of the grains, allows a playing similar to that of the snare ("caixa"), but with one hand (which allows some modern drummers to play "cross-sticks" with the other hand, to mimic a tamborim).

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A perfect control of the dynamics can actually allow to choose the loudness that you desire, at each shock of the grains against the shell, and thus express endless variations. Few are the specialists who have acquired this control, which is highly relevant in the context of "pagode" (band with singers, guitarists and percussionists) or "jazz-samba", more intimist.

Marc De Douvan, October 2005, translation in English: May 2013.