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Samba parade at Rio de Janeiro, 2008.

Samba (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɐ̃bɐ] ( listen)) is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil (Rio De Janeiro) and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival. Considered one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions, samba has become an icon of Brazilian national identity.^[1][2][3] The Bahian Samba de Roda (dance circle), which became a UNESCO Heritage of Humanity in 2005, is the main root of the samba carioca, the samba that is played and danced in Rio de Janeiro.

	Uva de caminhão Composed by Assis Valente, recorded by Carmem Miranda in 1939.
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	Na Pavuna Almirante, released in 1929.
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	Primeira Linha Benedito Lacerda e grupo Gente do Morro, released in 1930. (composed by Heitor dos Prazeres)
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	Samba de fato Patrício Teixeira e Trio T.B.T. recorded in 1932. (composed by Pixinguinha and Cícero de Almeida).
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	Agora é Cinza Mario Reis (singer), released in 1933.
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	Conversa de botequim Noel Rosa, released in 1935.
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	Com Que Roupa? Noel Rosa, released in 1935.
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The modern samba that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century is basically 2/4 tempo varied with the conscious use of chorus sung to the sound of palms and batucada rhythm, adding one or more parts or stanzas of declaratory verses. Traditionally, the samba is played by strings (cavaquinho and various types of guitar) and various percussion instruments such as tamborim. Influenced by American orchestras in vogue since the Second World War and the cultural impact of US music post-war, samba began to use trombones, trumpets, choros, flutes, and clarinets.

In addition to rhythm and bar, samba brings a whole historical culture of food, varied dances (miudinho, coco, samba de roda, and pernada), parties, clothes such as linen shirts, and the NAIF painting of established names such as Nelson Sargento, Guilherme de Brito, and Heitor dos Prazeres. Anonymous community artists, including painters, sculptors, designers, and stylists, make the clothes, costumes, carnival floats, and cars, opening the doors of schools of samba.

The Samba National Day is celebrated on December 2. The date was established at the initiative of Luis Monteiro da Costa, an Alderman of Salvador, in honor of Ary Barroso. He composed "Na Baixa do Sapateiro" even though he had never been in Bahia. Thus 2 December marked the first visit of Ary Barroso to Salvador. Initially, this day was celebrated only in Salvador, but eventually it turned into a national holiday.

Samba is a root style in Southeastern Brazil and Northeast Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador and Belo Horizonte. Its importance as Brazil's national music transcends region, however; samba schools, samba musicians and carnival organizations centered around the performance of samba exist in every region of the country and, while regional musics prevail in other regions (for instance, in Southern Brazil, Center-West Brazil, and all of the Brazilian countryside, Sertanejo, or Brazilian country music, is the most popular style).^[5] Since Rio de Janeiro is the most popular Brazilian city worldwide,^[6][7] usually samba is used to identify Brazilians as part of the same national culture, even if nowadays Sertanejo is the most popular style in Brazil.

Etymology[link]

There are several theories about the origin of the word samba. One of them claims that samba came from the word Zumba or Zamba, both coming from Arabic, from when the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century.^{[citation needed]} Another theory says it originated from one of many African languages, possibly the Kimbundu, where sam means give and ba means receive or thing falls.^{[citation needed]}

In Brazil, folklorists suggest that the word samba is a corruption of the Kikongo word Semba, translated as umbigada in Portuguese, meaning "a blow struck with the belly button".^[8]

One of the oldest records of the word samba appeared in Pernambuco magazine's O Carapuceiro, dated February 1838, when Father Miguel Lopes Gama of Sacramento wrote against what he called the samba d'almocreve – not referring to the future musical genre, but a kind of merriment (dance drama) popular for black people of that time. According to Hiram Araújo da Costa, over the centuries, the festival of dances of slaves in Bahia were called samba.^{[citation needed]}

In the middle of the 19th century, the word samba defined different types of music made by African slaves when conducted by different types of Batuque, but it assumed its own characteristics in each Brazilian state, not only by the diversity of tribes for slaves, but also the peculiarity of each region in which they were settlers. Some of these popular dances were known as bate-baú, samba-corrido, samba-de-roda, samba-de-Chave and samba-de-barravento in Bahia; coco in Ceará; tambor-de-crioula (or ponga) in Maranhão; trocada, coco-de-parelha, samba de coco and soco-travado in Pernambuco; bambelô in Rio Grande do Norte; partido-alto, miudinho, jongo and caxambu in Rio de Janeiro; and samba-lenço, samba-rural, tiririca, miudinho, and jongo in São Paulo.^[1]

History[link]

Background[link]

Origins of the Samba[link]

The Batuque practiced in Brazil of the 19th century, in a painting by Johann Moritz Rugendas

Although samba exists throughout Brazil – especially in the states of Bahia, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, and São Paulo – in the form of various popular rhythms and dances that originated from the regional batuque, a type of music and associated dance form from Cape Verde, the samba is most frequently identified as a musical expression of urban Rio de Janeiro, where it was born and developed between the end of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. It was in Rio that the dance practiced by former slaves who migrated from Bahia came into contact with and incorporated other genres played in the city (such as the polka, the maxixe, the lundu, and the xote), acquiring a completely unique character and creating the samba carioca urbana (samba school) and carnavalesco (Carnaval school director).^[3] Samba schools are large organizations of up to 5,000 people which compete annually in the Carnival with thematic floats, elaborate costumes, and original music.

During the first decade of the 20th century, some songs under the name of samba were recorded, but these recordings did not achieve great popularity. However, in 1917, "Pelo Telefone" ("By Phone") was recorded,^[9] and it is considered the first true samba. The song was claimed to be authored by Ernesto dos Santos, best known as Donga (musician) (pt/de), with co-composition attributed to Mauro de Almeida, a well-known Carnival columnist. Actually, "Pelo Telefone" was created by a collective of musicians who participated in celebrations at the house of Tia Ciata (Aunt Ciata). It was eventually registered by Donga and the Almeida National Library.^[3]

"Pelo Telefone" was the first composition to achieve great success with the style of samba and to contribute to the dissemination and popularization of the genre. From that moment on, samba started to spread across the country, initially associated with Carnival and then developing its own place in the music market. There were many composers, including Heitor dos Prazeres, João da Bahiana, Pixinguinha, and Sinhô, but the sambas of these composers were "amaxixados" (a mix of maxixe), known as sambas-maxixes.^[3]

The contours of the modern samba came only at the end of the 1920s, from the innovations of a group of composers of carnival blocks in the neighborhoods of Estácio de Sá and Osvaldo Cruz, and the hills of Mangueira, Salgueiro, and São Carlos. Since then, there have been many great names in samba, such as Ismael Silva, Cartola, Ary Barroso, Noel Rosa, Ataulfo Alves, Wilson Batista, Geraldo Pereira, Zé Kéti, Candeia, Ciro Monteiro, Nelson Cavaquinho, Elton Medeiros, Paulinho da Viola, Martinho da Vila, and many others.^[3]

As the samba consolidated as an urban and modern expression, it began to be played on radio stations, spreading across the hills and neighborhoods to the affluent southern areas of Rio de Janeiro. Initially viewed with prejudice and discrimination because it had black roots, the samba, because of its hypnotic rhythms and melodic intonations in addition to its playful lyrics, eventually conquered the white middle class as well. Other musical genres derived from samba, such as samba-canção, partido alto, samba-enredo, samba de gafieira, samba de breque, bossa nova, samba-rock, and pagode, have all earned names for themselves.^[3]

The samba is frequently associated abroad with football and Carnival. This history began with the international success of Aquarela do Brasil, by Ary Barroso, followed by Carmen Miranda (supported by Getúlio Vargas government and the US Good Neighbor policy), which led samba to the United States. Bossa nova finally entered the country into the world of samba music. The success of the samba in Europe and Japan only confirms its ability to win fans, regardless of their language. Currently, there are hundreds of samba schools held on European soil and scattered among countries like Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Sweden, and Switzerland. Already in Japan, the records invest heavily in the launch of former Sambista's set of discs, which eventually created a market comprised solely of catalogs of Japanese record labels.^[3]

Favela and Tias Baianas[link]

From the second half of the 19th century onward, as blacks, mestizas, and ex-soldiers of the War of Canudos in Rio de Janeiro came from various parts of Brazil (mainly Bahia) and settled in the vicinity of Morro da Conceição, Pedra do Sal, Praça Mauá, Praça Onze, Cidade Nova, Saúde, and Zona Portuária. These stands form poor communities that these people called the favelas (later the term became synonymous with the irregular buildings of the poor).

These communities would be the scene of a significant part of Brazilian black culture, particularly with respect to Candomblé and samba amaxixado at that time. Among the early highlights were the musician and dancer Hilário Jovino Ferreira—responsible for the founding of several blocks of afoxé and Carnival's ranchos—and Tias Baianas, a term given to the female descendants of Bahian slaves.

Thus, the samba and musical genre was born in the houses of Tias Baianas (Bahian aunts) in the beginning of the 20th century, as a descendant of the style lundu of the candomblé de terreiro parties between umbigada (Samba) and capoeira's pernadas, marked in pandeiro, prato-e-faca (plate-and-knife) and in the palm of the hand. There are some controversies about the word samba-raiado, one of the first appointments to the samba. It is known that the samba-raiado is marked by the sound and accent sertanejos / rural brought by "Tias Baianas" to Rio de Janeiro. According to João da Baiana, the samba-raiado was the same as chula raiada or samba de partido-alto. For the sambist Caninha, this was the first name would have heard at the home of Tia Dadá. At the same time, there were the samba-corrido, a line that had more work together with the rural Bahian accent, and the samba-chulado, a more rhyming and melodic style that characterized the urban samba carioca.^[1]

Scenes in Bahia and São Paulo[link]

Pandeiro and cavaco, the nucleus of common samba instrumentation

The urban carioca samba is the anchor of 20th century "Brazilian samba" par excellence. However, before this type of samba was to consolidate as the "national samba" in Brazil, there were traditional forms of sambas in Bahia and São Paulo.

The rural Bahia samba acquired additional names as choreographic variations – for example, the "samba-de-chave", where the soloist dancer faking looking wheel in the middle of a key, and when found, was replaced.^{[clarification needed]} The poetic structure of Bahian samba followed the way back-and-chorus—composed of a single verse, a solo, followed by another, and repeated by the chorus of dancers as the falderal. With no chorus, the samba is called samba-corrido, which is an uncommon variant. The chants were taken by one singer, one of the musicians, or soloist dancer. Another peculiarity of Bahian samba was a form of competition that dances sometimes presented: it was a dispute between participants to see who performed better. Besides the umbigada, common to all the bahianian samba, the Bahia presented three basic steps: corta-a-joca, separa-o-visgo, and apanha-o-bag. There is also another choreographic element danced by women: the miudinho (this also appeared in São Paulo, as dance solo in the center of the wheel). The instruments of the Bahian samba were pandeiros, shakers, guitars, and sometimes the castanets and berimbaus.^[1]

In São Paulo state, samba became the domain of blacks and caboclos. In rural areas, samba can provide without the traditional umbigada. There are also other choreographic variations—the dancers may be placed in rows with men on one side and women on another. The instruments of the samba paulista were violas and pandeiros. It is possible that the early provision of the wheel, in Goiás, has been modified by the influence of quadrilha or cateretê. According to historian Luís da Câmara Cascudo, it is possible to observe the influence of city in the samba, by the fact that it is also danced by pair connections.^[1]

One of the most noticeable groups of São Paulo's samba, Demônios da Garoa (Drizzle's Demons), had a strong link with Adoniran Barbosa, who composed the musics they sang. Musics like "Samba do Arnesto" and "Saudosa Maloca" turned into legendary musics, and nowadays are recognized as "the real Samba Paulistano". This group is still alive, but without the original formation. In 2000, one of their most famous musics, "Trem das Onze", was elected São Paulo's symbol music.

The first decades of the 20th century[link]

"Pelo Telefone"[link]

Tia Ciata, grandmother of the composer Bucy Moreira, was responsible for the sedimentation of samba carioca. According to the folklore of that time, for a samba musician to achieve success, he would have to pass the house of Tia Ciata and be approved on the rodas de samba. Many compositions were created and sung in improvisation, where the samba Pelo Telefone (from Donga and Mauro de Almeida), samba for which there were also many other versions, but to come to the history of Brazilian music as the first samba to be recorded in 1917.^{[1][9][clarification needed]}

Meanwhile, other recordings have been recorded as samba before Pelo Telefone, as this composition was done by double Donga / Mauro de Almeida, who is regarded as a founder of the genre. Still, the song is written and discussed, and its proximity to the maxixe made it finally be designated as samba-maxixe. This section was influenced by maxixe dance and basically played the piano—unlike the Rio samba played in the Morros hills—and the composer has musician Sinhô, self-titled o rei do samba ("the king of Samba") which with other pioneers such as Heitor dos Prazeres and Caninha, lay the first foundations of the musical genre.^[2]

Turma do Estácio[link]

Cartola, one of great carioca sambists

The growing shantytowns in the hills of suburban Rio would become the home of new musical talents. Almost simultaneously, the samba carioca, which was born in the city center, would climb the slopes of the hills and spread outside the periphery, to the point that, over time, it came to be identified as samba de morro (samba from the hills).

At the end of the 1920s, the carnival samba of blocks of the districts Estácio de Sá and Osvaldo Cruz was born, and in the hills of Mangueira, Salgueiro, and São Carlos, there were innovations in rhythmic samba that persist until the present day. This group, the Turma do Estácio, from which would arise Deixa Falar, was the first samba school in Brazil. Formed by some composers in the neighborhood of Estácio, including Alcebíades Barcellos (aka Bide) Armando Marçal, Ismael Silva, Nilton Bastos and the more "malandros" such as Baiaco, Brancura, Mano Edgar, Mano Rubem, the "Turma do Estácio" marked the history of the Brazilian samba by injecting more pace to the genre one performed, which has the endorsement of the youth's middle class, as the ex-student of law Ary Barroso and former student of medicine Noel Rosa.^[2]

Initially a "rancho carnavalesco", then a Carnival's Block, and finally a samba school, the Deixa Falar was the first to Rio Carnival parade in the sound of an orchestra made up of percussion surdos, tambourines, and cuícas, who joined pandeiro and shakers. This group was instrumental and is called bateria, and it lends itself to the monitoring of a type of samba that was quite different from those of Donga, Sinhô, and Pixinguinha. The samba of Estácio de Sá signed up quickly as the samba carioca par excellence.

The Turma do Estácio has made the appropriate rhythmic samba were so it could be accompanied in the carnival's parade, thus distancing the progress samba-amaxixado of composers such as Sinhô. Moreover, its wheels of samba were attended by composers from other Rio hills, as Cartola, Carlos Cachaça, and then Nelson Cavaquinho, e Geraldo Pereira, Paulo da Portela, Alcides Malandro Histórico, Manacéia, Chico Santana, and others. Accompanied by a pandeiro, a tambourine, a cuíca and a surdo, they created and spread the samba-de-morro.

Popularization in the 1930s and 1940s[link]

Brazilian actress Carmen Miranda helped popularize samba internationally.

After the founding of "Deixa Falar", the phenomenon of the samba schools took over the scene and helped boost Rio's samba subgenera of Partido Alto, singing and challenging in candomblé terreiros the samba-enredo.

From the 1930s, the popularization of radio in Brazil helped to spread the samba across the country, mainly the sub-genres samba-canção and samba-exaltação. The samba-canção was released in 1928 with the recording "Ai, yo-yo" by Aracy Cortes. Also known as "samba half of the year", the samba-canção became established in the next decade. It was a slow and rhythmic samba music and had an emphasis on melody and generally easy acceptance. This aspect was later influenced by the rhythms of foreigners, first by foxtrot in the 1940s and then bolero the 1950s. The most famous composers were Noel Rosa, Ary Barroso, Lamartine Babo, Braguinha (also known as João de Barro), and Ataulfo Alves. Other practitioners of this style were Antonio Maria, Custódio Mesquita, Dolores Duran, Fernando Lobo, Ismael Neto, Lupicínio Rodrigues, Batatinha, and Adoniran Barbosa (this latter by sharply satirical doses^{[clarification needed]}).^[1][2]

The ideology of Getúlio Vargas's Estado Novo contaminated the scene of the samba. With Aquarela do Brasil, composed by Ary Barroso and recorded by Francisco Alves in 1939, the samba-exaltação had become the first success abroad. This kind of samba was characterized by extensive compositions of melody and patriotic verses. Carmen Miranda popularized samba internationally through her Hollywood films.

With the support of the Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, the samba won status as the "official music" of Brazil. However, with this status of national identity came the recognition of intellectual Heitor Villa-Lobos, who arranged a recording with the maestro Leopold Stokowski in 1940, which involved Cartola, Donga, João da Baiana, Pixinguinha, and Zé da Zilda.^[1]

Also in the 1940s, there arose a new crop of artists: Francisco Alves, Mário Reis, Orlando Silva, Silvio Caldas, Aracy de Almeida, Dalva de Oliveira, and Elizeth Cardoso, among others. Others such as Assis Valente, Ataulfo Alves, Dorival Caymmi, Herivelto Martins, Pedro Caetano, and Synval Silva led the samba to the music industry.^[2]

A new beat in the 1950s: the Bossa Nova[link]

João Gilberto, bossa nova pioneer

A movement was born in the southern area of Rio de Janeiro, strongly influenced by jazz, marking the history of samba and Brazilian popular music in the 1950s. The bossa nova emerged at the end of that decade, with an original rhythmic accent which divided the phrasing of the samba and added influences of impressionist music and jazz and a different style of singing which was both intimate and gentle. After precursors such as Johnny Alf, João Donato, and musicians like Luis Bonfá and Garoto, this sub-genre was inaugurated by João Gilberto, Tom Jobim, and Vinicius de Moraes. It then had a generation of disciples and followers including Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Durval Ferreira, and groups like Tamba Trio, Bossa 3, Zimbo Trio, and The Cariocas.^[1]

The sambalanço also began at the end of the 1950s. It was a branch of the popular bossa nova (most appreciated by the middle class) which also mingled samba rhythms and American jazz. Sambalanço was often found at suburban dances of 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. This style was developed by artists such as Bebeto, Bedeu, Scotland 7, Djalma Ferreira, the Daydreams, Dhema, Ed Lincoln, Elza Soares, and Miltinho, among others. In the 21st century, groups like Funk Como Le Gusta and Clube do Balanço continue to keep this sub-genre alive.

Rediscovered of the samba's roots in the 1960s and 1970s[link]

In the 1960s, Brazil became politically divided with the arrival of a military dictatorship, and the leftist musicians of bossa nova started to gather attention to the music made in the favelas. Many popular artists were discovered at this time. Musicians like Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Guilherme de Brito, Velha Guarda da Portela, Zé Keti, and Clementina de Jesus recorded their first albums during this time.^[1]

In the 1970s, samba returned strongly to the air waves with composers and singers like Paulinho da Viola, Martinho da Vila, Clara Nunes, and Beth Carvalho dominating the hit parade. Great samba lyricists like Paulo César Pinheiro (especially in the praised partnership with João Nogueira) and Aldir Blanc started to appear around that time.

Rapprochement with the hill[link]

Vinicius de Moraes

With bossa nova, samba is further away from its popular roots. The influence of jazz deepened, and techniques have been incorporated from classical music. From a festival in Carnegie Hall of New York, in 1962, the bossa nova reached worldwide success. But over the 1960s and 1970s, many artists who emerged—like Chico Buarque, Billy Blanco, Martinho da Vila, and Paulinho da Viola—advocated the return of the samba beat in its traditional form. They also wanted veterans like Candeia, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, and Zé Kéti to return. In the early the 1960s, the "Movement for Revitalization of Traditional Samba", promoted by Center for Popular Culture, started in partnership with the Brazilian National Union of Students. During the 1960s, some samba groups appeared and were formed by previous experiences with the world of samba and songs recorded by great names of Brazilian music. Among them were The Cinco Crioulos, The Voz do Morro, Mensageiros do Samba, and The Cinco Só.^[1]

Outside the main scene of the Brazilian Popular Music festivals, the sambists founded the Bienal do Samba in the late 1960s, and it became the space for the big names of the genre and followers. Even in the final decade, the samba-empolgação (samba-excitement) of carnival blocks Bafo da Onça, Cacique de Ramos, and Boêmios de Irajá came into being.^[1]

A fusion: the samba-funk[link]

Also in the 1960s came the samba funk. The samba-funk emerged at the end of the 1960s with pianist Dom Salvador and his group, which merged the samba with American funk, which was then newly arrived in the Brazil. With the departure of Dom Salvador to the United States, the band broke up, but at the beginning of the 1970s, some ex-members, including Luiz Carlos, José Carlos Barroso, and Oberdan joined Christovao Bastos, Jamil Joanes, Cláudio Stevenson and Lúcio da Silva to form Banda Black Rio. The new group has deepened the work of Don Salvador in the double mixture of the bar with the Brazilian samba funk of the American Quaternary, based on the dynamics of implementation, driven by drums and bass. Even after the Banda Black Rio in the 1980s, British disc jockeys began to play the group's work. It was rediscovered throughout Europe, but mainly in UK and Germany.^[1]

Partido-Alto for the masses[link]

At the turn of the 1960s to the 1970s, the young Martinho da Vila would give a new face to the traditional sambas-enredo established by authors such as Silas de Oliveira and Mano Decio da Viola, compressing them and expanding its potential in the music market. Martin popularized the style of the Partido alto with songs like "Casa de Bamba" and "Pequeno Burguês" and launched his first album in 1969.

Although the term partido alto originally arose at the beginning of the 1900s to describe instrumental music, the term came to be used to signify a type of samba which is characterized by a highly percussive beat of pandeiro, using the palm of the hand in the center of the instrument in place. The harmony of Partido alto is always higher in pitch, usually played by a set of percussion instruments (usually surdo, pandeiro, and tambourine) and accompanied by a cavaquinho and/or a guitar.

Also in that decade, some popular singers and composers appeared in the samba, including Alcione, Beth Carvalho, and Clara Nunes. As highlighted in city of São Paulo, Geraldo Filme was one of the leading names in samba paulistano, next to Germano Mathias, Osvaldinho of Cuíca, Tobias da Vai-Vai, Aldo Bueno, and Adoniran Barbosa.

1980s until 1990s[link]

Zeca Pagodinho, a popular contemporary sambist

In the early 1980s, after having been eclipsed by the popularity of disco and Brazilian rock, Samba reappeared in the media with a musical movement created in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. It was the pagode, a renewed samba, with new instruments like the banjo and the tan-tan. It also had a new language that reflected the way that many people actually spoke by including heavy gíria (a type of slang). The most popular artists were Zeca Pagodinho, Almir Guineto, Grupo Fundo de Quintal, Jorge Aragão, and Jovelina Pérola Negra.^[10]

In 1995, the world saw one of the most popular Pagode groups, the Gera Samba, later renamed to É o Tchan, come out from Savador. This group created the most sexual dance of the Pagode during the 1990s, mixing a lot of Axé music in it, and nowadays are satirized as a synonym of bad music. Some groups like Patrulha do Samba and Harmonia do Samba, also mixed in a bit of Axé. Samba, as a result, morphed during this period, embracing types of music that were growing popular in the Caribbean such as rap, reggae, and rock. Examples of Samba fusions with popular Caribbean music is samba-rap, samba-rock, and samba-reggae, all of which were efforts to not only entertain, but also to unify all Blacks throughout the Americas culturally and politically via song. In other words, samba-rap and the like often carried lyrics that encouraged Black pride, and spoke out against social injustice.^[11] Samba, however, is not accepted by all as the national music of Brazil, or as a valuable art form. Light-skinned "upper-class" Brazilians often associated Samba with dark-skinned blacks because of its arrival from West Africa. As a result, there are some light-skinned Brazilians who claim that samba is the music of low-class, dark-skinned Brazilians and, therefore, is a "thing of bums and bandits".^[12]

Samba continued to act as a unifying agent during the 1990s, when Rio stood as a national Brazilian symbol. Even though it was not the capital city, Rio acted as a Brazilian unifier, and the fact that samba originated in Rio helped the unification process. In 1994, the FIFA World Cup had its own samba composed for the occasion, the "Copa 94". The 1994 FIFA World Cup, in which samba played a major cultural role, holds the record for highest attendance in World Cup history. Samba is thought to be able to unify because individuals participate in it regardless of social or ethnic group. Today, samba is viewed as perhaps the only uniting factor in a country fragmented by political division.^[13]

The Afro-Brazilians played a significant role in the development of the samba over time. This change in the samba was an integral part of Brazilian nationalism, which was referred to as "Brazilianism".

"What appears to be new is the local response to that flow, in that instead of simply assimilating outside influences into a local genre or movement, the presence of foreign genres is acknowledged as part of the local scene: samba-rock, samba-reggae, samba-rap. But this acknowledgment does not imply mere imitation of the foreign models or, for that matter, passive consumption by national audiences." – Gerard Béhague, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology. Pg. 84

Marcelo D2 frequently mix hip hop with samba.

Samba in the 21st century[link]

Samba female dancers.

Samba Bateria performing

From the year 2000 onwards, there were some artists who were looking to reconnect the most popular traditions of samba. The cases of Marquinhos of Oswaldo Cruz and Teresa Cristina, were, among others, the ones that contributed to the revitalization of the region of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro. In São Paulo, samba resumed the tradition with concerts in Sesc Pompéia Club and with the work of several groups, including the group Quinteto em Branco e Preto which developed the event "Pagode da Vela" ("Pagoda of Sail"). These all helped to attract many artists from Rio de Janeiro, which has established residence in neighborhoods of the capital paulistana.

In 2004, the minister of culture Gilberto Gil submitted to Unesco an application for declaring samba as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity in the category "Intangible Goods" by the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage. In 2005 the samba-de-roda of Baiano Recôncavo was proclaimed part of the Heritage of Humanity by Unesco, in the category of "Oral and intangible expressions".

Instruments commonly used in samba[link]

• Acoustic guitar/Seven-string guitar
• 4-string banjo
• Agogô
• Bass guitar
• Cavaquinho
• Chocalho
• Cuíca/Kweeca
• Drum kit
• Ganza
• Güiro
• Hand-repique
• Keyboard instruments
• Pandeiro
• Repinique
• Ring-repique
• Saxophones
• Snare drum/Tarol
• Surdo
• Tamborim
• Tantã
• Trombone
• Trumpet