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Samba
Among the different styles that make up what is known as Brazilian music, samba stands out as the most characteristic and popular, both in Brazil and abroad.
Its origins can be traced to the 17th century Bahia, where slaves captured in Angola and Congo landed ,divulging their semba gatherings (at the time called umbigada, or belly bumping). At the closing of the 19th century, the city of Rio de Janeiro - at the time the country's capital - became Brazil major cultural centre, where melting pot of rhythms of diverse origins, such as the Polka, the Lundu, the Habanera, the Maxime, would blend with the old African Rhythm from the semba gatherings, generating the samba in the process.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the neighbourhoods adjacent to downtown Rio - Estácio, Saúde, and PraÇa Onze, became the ultimate bastion of this genuinely Brazilian rhythm. That was where the "baianas", affectionaly called "aunts" by the people, settled. They were based on the traditional figure cut by heavy-set women from the state of Bahia. Wearing their wide, white garbs, swaying to their own rhythms, they contributed to this "migratory movement", which hastened the blending of those styles, culminating in the creation of samba.
In tradition to carrying traditional sweets and goodies, the "aunts" from Bahia brought along the tradition of religious syncretism in their back yard celebrations, aligning profane and religious traditions, always swayed by great music.
The most famous of those celebrations were held at Aunt Ciata's where young and talented musicians and composers of that period, among them Pixinguinha, joão da Baina and Donga, would get together. The latter, a habitué in those celebrations and son of famous Aunt Amélia, recorded in 1917 what many believe to have been "the first samba to be recorded": Pelo Telefone. The music contrived in Aunt Ciata's back yard was sort of a collective creation, the first part of which had permanent lyrics (usually by an unknown author) and the second part made up of verses improvised on the spot.
Performed at batuque gatherings in Rio de Janeiro, several names where used to define it: caxambú, jongo, partido alto, and, later, samba and batucada. Disseminated from Estácio to the rest of the city, different kinds of sambas emerged, such as samba-cancáo, samba-exaltacáo, samba de breque, samba de terreiro, samba the partido alto, samba enredo, etc.
Reference: O'Batuque Carioca,
Guilherme Gonçalves e Mestre Odilon Costa
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