Salvador, Bahia

Salvador is an interesting city that is primarily influenced by Africa in everything from the food preparation, the handicrafts and the music.
We had a fascinating excursion today that was a percussion workshop. It was located in one of the favelas (Salvador has a population of 2 million with half living in favelas). We were in a small recording studio that was owned by a gentleman named Peta who had been playing percussion instruments since he was 5 - he is now 47.
He was an incredibly patient man and entrusted each of the 12 of us with one of his special instruments. He taught us various samba rhythms and gave us each a chance to play something. He gave us an idea of his musical history and life in Brazil. He is extremely talented and explained that as a child he would practice one particular beat for 3 hours at a time. He just completed Carnival here where he played for 8 hours each day.
And, bless his heart, at the end he encouraged us all to take up an instrument and try to play with his background beat. Instead of plugging his ears, he smiled a wide smile and made us feel pretty good about ourselves.Read more