Kizomba is a African music and dance style, which emerged in Angola in the mid-1980s. The rhythm was born from the fusion of semba, from zouk and other foreign genres, such as merengue and some ballads from Música Popular Brasileira (MPB).
Etymologically, kizomba is a word that originated from the kinbundo - African language that is still spoken in Angola and that helped to build some expressions and terms known in the Brazil - and that means the "exaltation of the people", as a way to celebrate the life and liberation of slaves Africans.
The Angolan band "Os Fachos", formed by members of the Popular Armed Force for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), became known as the precursor of kizomba (in the form known today) in the 1980s.
However, the so-called kizombadas had been known for a long time. Between the 1950s and 1960s, kizombas were characterized by being big parties, with mixtures of various genres of African music and dance, as a way of celebrating the culture and freedom of the black.
Kizomba can be branched into three sub-genres: a "last" (classic rhythm), the "little tuner", The "square" and the "fan".