Samba is a traditional Brazilian dance. Brazil is in South-America. Much of Brazilian culture is Portugese (from Portugal), as a few centuries ago Portugese people settled in Brasil, and brought with them their Portugese culture, including music.
When the Portugese first settled in Brazil, most of the native Brazilians (known as “South-American Indians”) died, either because the Portugese wanted them dead so they could take over their land, or because they caught diseases that the Portugese were carrying. The Portugese realised that they had no way of farming the land without these native Indians as slaves, so they bought thousands of African slaves who worked the land for them (this is similar to what happened in North America, if you remember from our Blues topic!). The African slaves brought with them their own music, consisting of exciting bongo rhythms and combinations of rhythms, making the listener want to dance. The merge of these two styles is called “Afro-Brazilian”. It is Afro-Brazilian music that eventually gave birth to Samba.
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Every year in Rio De Janeiro, a city in Brazil, there is a huge carnival with street music and flamboyant shows. This has been the tradition for over one hundred years. Samba became a recognised music form in the early 20th century, and was the centre of the Rio Carnival, with literally hundreds of Samba dancers and musicians on the streets. The word “Samba” is African in origin, meaning “invitation to dance”. |
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Repinique.
Makes a high, piercing sound. Often has solo parts.
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Surdo.
Makes a deep, bass sound. Provides a steady beat. |
Agogo
Made of iron and steel. Strike a stick against it to produce 2 different sounds. |
Caixa
Made of wood or metal, playable on both sides. |
Chocalho
Very large powerful shaker |
Samba music is in 2/4 time (in two) with a high bass drum beat on the first beat, a lower beat on the second beat, and highly syncopated rhythms played over the top. A bateria (group of drummers) plays the rhythmical part, while melody instruments and singers play the tunes.
The main thing that makes it sounds like Samba is the rhythm pattern. In a cycle of eight quick beats, the accents are on beats 1, 4 and 5.
After slavery in South America was made illegal, hundreds of Samba schools sprung up all over Brazil and it started to become popular with white Brazilians. Now it is popular all over the world, with dance schools here and in the UK teaching Samba dancing. |
