The atabaque is an instrument of Arab origin. It was introduced in Africa by merchants who entered the continent through countries in the north of Africa, as Egypt. Probably the atabaque entered Brazil through the Portuguese; in the beginning it was being used in parties and religious processions. Nowadays it is being used mainly in the music that accompanies the capoeira fight. It is generally made of wood like jacaranda, cedar or mahogany cut in laths that are pressed one to the other with arcs of iron of different diameters that give the instrument the form of a conical cylinder. On the top head a leather ox skin is stretched. The atabaque is played with the hands. It is the atabaque that marks the rhythm of the capoeira game. Together with the pandeiro it accompanies the solo of the berimbau.