Jongo (also caxambu) is the Afro-Brazilian circle dance of the Southeast, kept alive by communities descended from the enslaved Bantu workers of the Paraíba valley coffee farms. A leader sings a riddling ponto, the circle answers, and couples dance in the middle. It is a root of Rio samba.
The groove is in 6/8 (dotted quarter = 80). The big tambu (low conga) holds the two dotted-quarter beats and adds a pickup at the end of bar 1; the small, high candongueiro chatters on the eighths in between, filling what the tambu leaves out. The basket rattle guaiá (shaker) plays every eighth and accents the two beats, the steady floor the drums talk over.
Listen for the call-and-answer between low and high drum rather than for a fixed bell line: the two drums are a conversation.
Practice hint: tap the two dotted-quarter beats with your foot and speak the candongueiro part.