BRAZIL: Land Of Samba

Even though each region of Brasil has its own way of expressing the samba, with various rhythms and popular dances, it is consolidated as an urban musical expression emerged in the beginning of the last century, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It was at this time that the genre came in touch with other popular styles in Rio de Janeiro, such as the polca, maxixe, lundu and xote. Such a mixture made of samba what it is today.

It all started in houses called “tias baianas,” settled in Rio de Janeiro by migrants. 1916 saw the recording of the song Pelo telefone (written by Ernesto dos Santos, better known as Dongo, and by journalist Mauro de Almeida), considered by most samba songwriters the first samba made in Brasil.

When Pelo telefone was released, Agenor de Oliveira, better known as Cartola, was around five years old. Later on, he would become the greatest singer in the history of brazilian music. Songs like As rosas não falam and O mundo é um moinho have earned him the title. Although the composer died in the early 1980s, his legacy is still present in the streets of Lapa and Rio’s nightlife.

In parallel, other forms of the genre developed in Bahia and São Paulo. The samba from Bahia gained new choreography from dancers and the poetic structure of the songs, to the sound of the tambourine, guitar, rattle, castanets and berimbaus. In Sao Paulo, viols, adufes (Moorish tambourines) and tambourines became the foundation of the samba paulista [samba from São Paulo]. With over 70 years of existence, the group Demônios da Garoa still stands as a reference of this genre in the State. Thanks to composer Adoniran Barbosa, the Group has consolidated itself as a samba success. Adoniran’s mood eventually became a trademark, immortalized in songs like As mariposas and Tiro ao Álvaro.

Samba today is the soul of Brazilian Carnival, the plot of many botiquins, the groove of Sunday barbecues and the reason not to sit around wherever you are.