This article is about the music style. For the food, see baião de dois.

The baião is a Northeast Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian rhythmic formula that became the basis of a wide range of music. Forró

Forró

Forró is a kind of Northeastern Brazilian dance as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which accompanies the dance. Both are much in evidence during the annual Festa Junina , a part of Brazilian traditional culture which celebrates some Catholic saints...

, côco

Coco

Coco, CoCo, Co-Co or similar can mean:*Co-Co locomotives, a code for a locomotive wheel arrangement with two six-wheeled bogies with all axles powered, with a separate motor per axle*Co-Co , a British pop group...

, and embolada are clear examples. The main baião instrument is the zabumba

Zabumba

A zabumba is a type of bass drum used in Brazilian music. The player wears the drum while standing up and uses both hands while playing.The zabumba generally ranges in diameter from 16 to 22 inches, and is 5 to 8 inches tall. The shell is made of wood and may utilize either skin or plastic drum...

, a flat, double-headed bass drum played with a mallet in one hand and stick in the other, each striking the opposite head of the drum.

The baião originated with the native peoples in the Northeast but now incorporates elements of indigenous, mestizo

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

, African, and European musics. Grossly, the indigenous elements are flutes and wooden shakers; African-influenced baiãos are accompanied with atabaque

Atabaque

The atabaque is a tall, wooden, Afro-Brazilian hand drum. The shell is made traditionally of Jacaranda wood from Brazil. The head is traditionally made from calfskin. A system of ropes are intertwined around the body, connecting a metal ring near the base to the head...

 drums and include overlapping call and response singing; and European influences include dance music such as the polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

, mazurka

Mazurka

The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...

, schottische

Schottische

The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...

, and quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

, as well as Portuguese

Music of Portugal

Portugal is internationally known in the music scene for its traditions of fado, but the country has seen a recent expansion in musical styles, with modern acts from rock to hip hop becoming popular...

 contest singing and accompaniment with one or two pandeiro

Pandeiro

The pandeiro is a type of hand frame drum.There are two important distinctions between a pandeiro and the common tambourine. The tension of the head on the pandeiro can be tuned, allowing the player a choice of high and low notes...

s playing the baião rhythm.

The baião is most associated with the State of Pernambuco

Pernambuco

Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...

, just north of Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

. Despite the relatively small area that confines its popularity, a great variety of music is associated with baião. One only need listen to Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...

 from Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

, Luiz Gonzaga

Luiz Gonzaga

Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento was a very prominent Brazilian folk singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Born in the countryside of Pernambuco , he is considered to be responsible for the promotion of northeastern music throughout the rest of the country...

 and Selma do Côco of Pernambuco, and any "repentista" singer from the region such as Perdal Lins and Verde Lins. Although samba

Samba

Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...

 and bossa nova

Bossa nova

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...

 are largely considered Brazil's national musics, no complete understanding of Brazil's music and culture can be had without taking into account the baião and its influences as far south as São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

 and Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

.

The baião is very much a rural music and for a long time was eschewed by the urban upper classes, particularly by the famous Portuguese Jazz composer, Rafael Baiao.

Musical Characteristics

According to Guerra Peixe, baião has a musical scale

Musical scale

In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...

 that goes from do to do, with the following variations:

1. Typical major scale
   Major scale
   In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
   
   , or Ionian mode
   Ionian mode
   Ionian mode is the name assigned by Heinrich Glarean in 1547 to his new authentic mode on C , which uses the diatonic octave species from C to the C an octave higher, divided at G into a fourth species of perfect fifth plus a third species of perfect fourth : C D...
   
   ;
2. Major scale
   Major scale
   In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
   
    with a minor seventh
   Minor seventh
   In classical music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions , and the minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor seventh spans ten semitones, the...
   
    (Mixolydian mode
   Mixolydian mode
   Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek harmoniai or tonoi, based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; a modern musical mode or diatonic scale, related to the medieval mode.-Greek Mixolydian:The idea of a...
   
   );
3. Major scale
   Major scale
   In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
   
    with an augmented fourth (Lydian mode
   Lydian mode
   The Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the fifth of the eight Gregorian modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B but in...
   
   );
4. The mixture of the two previous modes, or even the three of them (Lydian b7);
5. Less often, a minor scale
   Minor scale
   A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...
   
    with a major sixth
   Major sixth
   In classical music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six staff positions , and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two...
   
    (Dorian mode
   Dorian mode
   Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different musical modes or diatonic scales, the Greek, the medieval, and the modern.- Greek Dorian mode :...
   
   ).

He also says that it uses the following note value

Note value

In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....

s: the eighth note

Eighth note

thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....

, the quarter note

Quarter note

A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...

, the half note

Half note

In music, a half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note...

, and the beamed whole note

Whole note

thumb|right|250px|Figure 1. A whole note and a whole rest.In music, a whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note , and no note stem . Its length is equal to four beats in 4/4 time...

 notated in 2/4 time. The harmonics from the modes above:

1. major mode:
   1. I, V, and IV , in varying order;
   2. I, II with an augmented fourth.
2. minor mode:
   1. I, IV with an augmented fourth.