Samba (music)

Samba is the most famous among the various forms of music that resulted from the amalgam of African and Portuguese music that took place in Brazil.

The name Samba comes from the ANGOLAN "SEMBA " - religious rhythms

Semba skeleton

              8/8     //:   3     +  3       + 2  : //           
       Bassdrums (surdo)  Marcao  risposta   cortador  

which are mixed with a "MALINGA" rhythm (Angola/Mozambique) on the pandeiro (= Austral-African tambourin /or -->small malinga frame-drum)

           
        16/16   // : 3 + 1 + (3) + (1 )+ 3 +1 + (3 )+(1 ) ://
   

Samba developed as a distinctive kind of music at the turn of the 20th century, mainly in the state of Bahia.

Especially in SANTANDER = Some forms of the original african semba "roots " - music are still played there, on the ATABAQUES (three conga like hand drums)and developed into the SAMBA PAGODE

PAGODE skeleton on one atabaque (= you can also use a djembe) is 

                  <     <            ( Bell )
         16/16    R B b L  R B b L  

      ( R= right (strong) hand rim or tone   L = Left hand rim or tone 
        B= open strong bass         b = weak bass 

It is still the basic music of the "BLOCOS" in the Santander carnival.

The migration of black population from Bahia to the capital Rio de Janeiro brought the samba to the metropolis.

It fused with the CORO and the MARCHA and was "invented" by the group around PIXENHUINA in one of the local CANDOMBLE temples of the favelas of Rio in the early years of the 20th century.

The first recordings of samba (Pelo Telefone, by Donga, in 1917) carried the new music outside the black ghettos, known as favelas, but the real popularity of the samba only started with the compositions of one genial white musician, Noel Rosa. His abilities as a lyricist and satirist made the samba acceptable to the white middle class, while maintaining the essential characteristics of the music: its rhythm, its unique instrumentation and structure.