O samba is a musical genre that emerged in Rio de Janeiro, at the beginning of the 20th century. It originates from the drums and samba circles performed by Afro-Brazilians in their moments of meeting and leisure. Samba became popular in the 1930s, with the radio and samba schools, and became one of the most traditional rhythms in the Brazilian culture.
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What is samba?
The samba is a gendermusical typical of our country, and its modern form was consolidated in the Afro-Brazilian communities established in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 20th century. emerged as a circle dance marked by beat, samba has become a popular song genre, being one of the most popular in Brazil and one of its symbols abroad.
The spread of samba throughout the country was, in large part, the result of popularization of Samba schoolsin the 1930s and also the reproduction of the songs of this musical genre by
radio. Over time, the evolution of samba led to the emergence of subgenres, such as samba-plot, pagoda, bossa nova, between others.A fundamental element of samba is the percussion instruments, and, when it appeared, drums and drums, for example, were widely used. In Rio's urban samba, currently one of the most popular modalities of samba, the most used instruments are the tambourine, O deaf, O tambourine, a cuica, O ganza, O ukulele, O guitar, O agogo, O reco-reco, between others.
Samba is recognized as one of the most important styles of Brazilian culture and identity, and this recognition is manifested by the fact that Rio's urban samba, as well as its subgenres, is considered intangible cultural heritage do Brasil, by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute.
There is currently a commemorative date in honor of this important musical genre in our culture. O National Samba Day is celebrated on December 2nd. The date was created at the initiative of a Bahia councilor, named Luis Monteiro da Costa, in honor of samba dancer Ary Barroso.
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origin of samba
Samba is a musical genre originating in the african culture present in our country. The first link about the origins of samba is related to dance circles performed by the African slaves in Brazil. Among the dances practiced are the lundu, O coconut, O fandango, among others. These dances were driven, above all, by the rhythms of the drums.
Historians say that the Rio de Janeiro urban samba, the best-known form of the musical genre, is more directly related to the sambainwheel, musical style played in dance circles and capoeira circles. This style emerged in the region of Recôncavo Baiano, in the second half of the 19th century. The term samba, in this context, had the meaning of "party".
The transformations that took place in Brazil at the end of this century, including the abolition of slavery, caused many freed blacks to move to the capital of Brazil, the city of Rio de Janeiro. Moving to the capital was a way of building a new life, since, in their places of origin, ex-enslaved had little to gain.
In Rio de Janeiro, blacks gathered in neighborhoods like Health, Estacio and Gamboa. These meetings took place in the yards — places for religious practices and community meetings, as well as leisure and entertainment.
The terreiros were owned by the “auntsbaianas", women who spread Candomblé practices in Rio de Janeiro and used their properties so that the sambas could happen. That's because, until the 1920s, the Afro-Brazilian festivities were prohibited, as they were considered "immoral" by the customs of the time - a clear indication of racism about Afro-Brazilian culture.
In addition, the celebrations held by these "aunts" were a way to integrate the community and receive those who had recently arrived in Rio de Janeiro. The sambas of the time used to play little word games and told common stories of the time as well as denouncing the living conditions of blacks in Rio de Janeiro.
Historian Marcos Alvito mentions the samba “Batuque na Cozinha”, a song that points out the “awful living conditions, unfair competition from whites in all spheres (including sexual), prejudice and arbitrariness on the part of the police"|1|. This type of samba was then born in the terreiros of the Bahian aunts, who stood out Amelia and Ciata.
A milestone in the history of samba, according to many historians specialized in the subject, was the release of “Furtelephone”, created in 1917 by Donga, Mauro de Almeida and Sinhô and released as a carnival samba. During this period, samba was not yet accepted as a musical style by society, and repression still existed against samba musicians.
However, samba and Afro-Brazilian culture were already in an accelerated process of acceptance, and the penetration of Afro-Brazilian culture was increasingly common. Marcos Alvito mentions a short story by Machado de Assis who says that, at the end of the 19th century, dances that took place in the salons of Rio's upper class relied, increasingly, with African rhythms in their events|2|.
The success of “Pelotelefon” officially marked the transition of samba from a rhythm exclusively linked to dance circles to a musical genre. It was the birth of Rio's urban samba. The style spread throughout Rio de Janeiro, and, in the 1920s, samba already had recognized composers, such as Mr, called at the time “king of samba”.
In the 1920s, samba schools emerged, and these associations began to incorporate samba and add it to common practices of the Carnival From Rio. That junction of samba and carnival resulted in the creation of the samba-plot, a samba style created to pull the carnival parades and convey a certain message.
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Samba in the Vargas Era
![Samba schools and Carnival parades contributed to the popularization of samba in Brazil.[1]](/f/26467bc640e3beae1a98f17467ef4417.jpg)
It was during the It was Vargas that samba went from a persecuted musical genre to one of the most popular musical styles in our country. The popularization of samba in the cultural scene in Rio de Janeiro made the genre gain space in the Brazilian phonographic industry. So, samba won space and dissemination on radios.
The rise of samba is related to the transformation of Carnival as the main popular festival in Brazil and the role of radio as the main means of communication. Samba ended up being used by Getulio Vargas in your project of construction of identity and nationality of the Brazilian in the 1930s.
Thus, samba became one of the symbols of “Brazilianness”, and, as historian Lilia Schwarcz points out, “the samba went from repression to exaltation" and to be seen as a trait of Brazilian culture deserving of export|3|. This process, according to the historian, was related to the construction of the Brazilian identity, as mentioned, but it also went through a “De-Africanization” process of this cultural expression|4|. Thus, the exaltation of samba in the 1930s was an attempt to “whiten” this musical genre.
The space conquered on the radio by samba made professional musicians of this style consolidate at the time. So, names like Santapink, AtaulfAlves, DorivalCaymmi, among others, have become important. Noel Rosa, for example, composed around 300 songs between 1930 and 1937|5|.
Historians Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling still address the importance of Noel Rosa for samba in Brazil. According to them:
Noel completed the process of shaping the shape of the song we know today: its own language based on intonations and expressions of everyday speech, relationship between melody and lyrics, poetic inventiveness and flexible musical treatment - sometimes accelerating towards the marchinha, sometimes valuing the route melodic […]|5|.
See more: Brazilian culture – from diversity to inequality
great names of samba
From the 1930s onwards, samba became one of the most popular musical genres in Brazil and best known abroad. The rhythm was modernized, and new subgenres emerged over time, which brought a considerable variety of rhythms to samba. Many samba dancers have been consolidated since then, and we can mention some names:
Santa Rosa
Topper
Beth Carvalho
Silva's heifer
Carmen Miranda
Martinho da Vila
alcyon
Nelson Cavaquinho
Grades
|1| ALVITO, Mark. Samba teacher. In: National Library History Magazine. Year 9. No. 97. October, 2013. p 82.
|2| Idem, p. 80.
|3| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz. Neither black nor white, quite the opposite: color and race in Brazilian sociability. São Paulo: Claro Enigma, 2012. P. 59.
|4| Idem, p. 58.
|5| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil: a biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015. P. 376.
Image credit
[1] Bruno Martins Images and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
