BRIEF of SAMBA

Samba is one of the best known forms of Afro-Brasilian music. Afro-Brasilian culture developed through a blending of cultures as a result of the Portuguese colonisation of Brasil.

The Portuguese wished to use Brasil’s temperate climate to grow crops such as coffee and sugar and subjugated the indigenous Indian population to work their plantations. The Indians found this way of life unacceptable and were subsequently wiped out through a mixture of military campaigns and unknown diseases‚ inadvertantly carried by the European’s.

To replace them‚ slave labour was transported from Africa and inevitably‚ the African’s brought elements of their culture with them. Out of this racial melting pot‚ Afro-Brasilian culture was born.

This vibrant and exciting culture is still evolving and is expressed in different ways in various parts of Brasil. It is important to note that what we in Europe call samba or Samba music‚ is often an umbrella-term encompassing several different forms of music (samba‚ samba-reggae‚ afro bloc‚ maracatu‚ baio‚ etc.).

In Brazil‚ ‘samba’ refers to the carnival music associated closely with Rio and to a lesser extent Sao Paulo.

It was born in the houses of “aunts” from Bahia who settled in downtown Rio, from Lundu descent, in religious parties and capoeira meetings, with tambourine and clap beats. The region where they lived was known as “Little Africa”. Although previous recordings had been registered as samba, the song Pelo Telefone, recorded in 1917, is credited as being the style’s milestone