What it tastes like
Baile funk — funk carioca, Brazilian funk, or just funk in Portuguese — is the dance music of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Born in the 80s when DJs (DJ Marlboro, DJ Battery Brain) imported Miami bass and electro records and built block parties (bailes funk) in working-class neighborhoods, it evolved its own sound: the tamborzão rhythm pattern (an 808-derived syncopated kick + atabaque samples), aggressive vocal delivery in Portuguese, and 130 BPM tempos. Today it’s a global club force — Anitta, MC Bin Laden, M.I.A. all use the language.
A bar in and you’ve got it: a tamborzão pattern at 128-135 BPM — kick on 1, “ka-tam-ka-tam” pattern on the offbeats using atabaque (Afro-Brazilian drum) samples — plus an MC vocal in Portuguese delivered with high energy. The chord pad (when present) is minimal. Energy comes from rhythm and vocal.
The chord moves
Baile funk usually has little to no harmonic motion — sometimes a single sustained chord, sometimes a 4-chord loop in natural minor. The real interest is in the tamborzão rhythm and the MC’s flow. When chords appear, they’re plain triads or simple m7s.
--chord minor --pattern stab and let the rhythm carry the energy.
The groove
The tamborzão pattern is the genre. It’s an 808/atabaque hybrid pattern at 128-135 BPM: kick on 1, a “ka-ta-tam-tam” syncopated atabaque hit on the offbeats. Once you’ve heard it, you’ll recognize it instantly — it’s been borrowed by every major pop producer working in club music.
The bass is an 808 sub that follows the root with a slight pitch slide. Hi-hats are sparse — the atabaque is the high-frequency content.
The sounds
- Tamborzão drums: 808 kick + sampled atabaque (Afro-Brazilian conga). Layered for syncopated punch. THIS is the genre.
- 808 bass: deep sub-bass with pitch slide between notes. Mono.
- Chord pad: minimal sustained chord (when present). Often a single sampled keyboard note.
- MC vocal: spoken/rapped Portuguese vocal. Center-mixed, lots of energy.
- FX: vocal samples (“vapo!”, “vamo!”), air horns, sirens. Carioca culture coded in.
Production tells
Want it modern? Cleaner mix, brighter atabaque samples, sharper transients. Modern baile funk (post-2018) sounds tighter and more polished.
Want it 1995-DJ-Marlboro-vintage? Lo-fi sample-based, slightly distorted, narrower stereo. Use older atabaque sample packs. Master at -10 LUFS.
Am → Em → F → G
Click to hear it.
Listen to
Three records that show the flavor at full strength. Read them as listening pointers, not templates to copy.
Bonde da Stronda
MC Bin Laden
listen ↗
Rap das Armas
DJ Marlboro
listen ↗
Bang
Anitta
listen ↗
Ready when you are
Cook a guava jam.
Drop this in your terminal and you'll have a Standard MIDI pack in a folder, ready to drag into Live. Edit anything, swap any sound, throw out what doesn't work.
python jamburgr.py --key "A minor" --style baile_funk --progression i,v,VI,VII --pattern stab --output-mode pack --out ./jams/baile-funk