Handmade from southern Brazil - the ultra-light Fabiano Raposa pandeiros are being continued by Osvaldo and the Atelier de Percussão
The location is like a film set: beautifully tucked away in the hilly forests of Brazil's verdant south is a small workshop where an extraordinary range of pandeiros are made. There, Osvaldo, a young luthier, continues the life's work of Fabiano Raposa in his Atelier de Percussão. For decades, the handmade Raposa pandeiros were among the top pandeiro brands. With great attention to detail, Osvaldo makes super lightweight pandeiros with a fantastic sound. Osvaldo is also a pandeirista himself, so he knows exactly what is important. His workshop is so idyllically located, you think you're in the middle of the jungle. The view from the panorama window of his workshop takes you into the deep green of the surrounding forests, you hear birds calling and leaves rustling. In between, Osvaldo hammers and saws tirelessly away at his pandeiros until they look like small pieces of art with inlays and hand-hammered, strongly domed jingles.
You can see from afar that the pandeiros have been made with the greatest care and an extraordinary eye for detail. High quality woods are used for the frames of the instruments, which help to determine the later sound characteristics of the pandeiros. The skins are also carefully selected, and of course the jingles - the most important thing of all. The main characteristic of these pandeiros is the strong concavity of the jingles, which gives the instruments a precise, fine and almost delicate sound.
Raposa's philosophy lives on in Osvaldo's studio: playing with high-quality and beautiful instruments is simply much more fun and it is also easier to make good music if you have a great instrument. The brand continues under the name of Fabiano Raposa and his legacy, and anyone who sees Osvaldo at work will soon realise that he has certainly filled Raposa's big shoes.
