Popular Music of Brazil: Samba

Samba“Tudo acaba em samba”

• Afro-Brazilian urban popular song/dance form

• Origins in rural roda de samba:– Participatory– Accompanied by improvised songs and

percussion instruments– Style: syncopated, call and response vocals,

open-ended forms, musical interlock, diatonic melodies

Types of Samba

• Carnival samba (e.g. samba batucada and samba enredo)– Characterized by heavy percussion, songs

about themes presented in Carnival • (Year-round) samba

– Characterized by light percussion and plucked string accompaniment (guitar, cavaquinho)

– Songs often satiric, witty, improvised

Musical Characteristics

• 2/4 time, emphasis on second beat (as played by surdo drums)

• Other percussion plays interlocking, syncopated lines

• Songs are strophic; major or minor keys; usually easy to sing

• Chords limited to triads or seven chords

Carnival Samba• Arose in Rio de Janeiro, early 1900s• Part of pre-Lenten festivities (called

“Carnival:)”• Associated in past with poor Afro-

Brazilians; “street music” vs. music of the salon

Carnival

• Escolas de samba: large musical organizations, includes percussionists, singers, dancers, samba composers, choreographers, designers

• Determine theme, compose song, design float and costumes

• Compete during parade

Carnival and the State

• Before 1930, Afro-Brazilian instruments (drums; pandeiro) and cultural practices (e.g. candomble; capoeira) were banned.

• 1930 – dictator Getulio Vargas begins subsidizing samba schools (approx. 15) in exchange for cooperation with gov’t

• Samba schools have made Carnival in Rio a major tourist attraction

Escolas de Samba

• Mangueira (1929; colors: pink and green)• Portela (1935; colors: blue and white)

Samba Batucada• Instruments of the

Batería:– Surdo drums (basic

pulse in 2 divided among three sizes of surdo)

– Pandeiro (sixteenth-note division)

– Cuíca (accents)– Tamborim

(syncopation)– Caíxa (snare drum)

Samba Batucada Rhythms

Samba Songs• Upbeat songs, in 2/4 with

light percussion (pandeiro; tamborim; cuica)

• Emphasis on voice• Lyrics are about samba;

love; sometimes social commentary

• Carmen Miranda (1909-1955); film and recording star; introduced Brazilian music to world

Samba de Morro• Also called “roots

samba” to distinguish it from commercialized samba

• Sung by “sambistas”(singer/ composer of samba)

• Instruments: guitar, pandeiro, tamborim, surdo, cavaquinho

Ismael Silva

Nelson Sargento