Agogos - the samba bells

The previous three blogs have been focused on different instruments from the samba band - the surdo, the caixa and the tamborim. In this post, we will consider the agogo.

Based on a very similar instrument with the same name from west Africa, the agogo of samba is a made usually made of two metal cones joined by a strip or rod of metal. Many people, on first encountering an agogo, will call it a cowbell but the more conical shape of the bells and the connecting of two or more of them together is what distinguishes the agogo from the cowbell.

Part of the Worldwise Samba Drummers agogo section

The agogo is held so that the two bells are positioned with the shorter bell above the lower bell. They are played with a stick, the shorter, upper bell producing a higher pitch than the longer, lower bell. The patterns played on the agogo are often syncopated - many of their notes are in between the beat rather than on the beat. However loud the sound of the rest of the band may be, the agogos will always be heard as they are higher and more clear in pitch than the other instruments.

Some agogos are made so that the metal strip holding the two bells together flexes. This means that another sound can be made by clicking the two bells together. These clicks can be added in between the pitched notes and are equivalent to the quiet ghost notes played on the caixa (snare drums).

In the Worldwise Samba Drummers, our tamborim section also doubles as the agogo section. We are a band that plays in several different styles so our tamborim/agogo players switch instruments depending on the piece we are playing. We use agogos whenever we play pieces in the styles known as afoxe or maracatu - we usually have at least one afoxe piece in our set and occasionally play maracatu. We also use agogos for our maxixe piece. Although agogos are often used by other bands in batucada and for arrangements of candomble, we tend to stick with the tamborims for these pieces. 

Having our hand percussionists move between the tamborim and the agogo for different pieces helps provide contrast within our set and also makes for more of a fun challenge for our tamborim/agogo players. As with tamborims, the agogos are small, lightweight instruments which means the people playing them are a little more free to move about and we sometimes ask them to use slightly more intricate stepping patterns than the rest of the band.

In the next blog, we will continue our tour through the instruments of the band by considering the instrument known as the timba, timbau or timbal.

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