Concept in Definition ABC

Samba is a dance typically Brazilian, with a vibrant, happy and festive rhythm. It is an individual and eminently street dance modality. It is associated with the Rio de Janeiro carnival and is one of its main attractions (there is a massive stage where it takes place and is known as the sambadrome).

The dancers or sambistas perform four times (three steps and a pause) and their main characteristic as dance is the constant rocking of the pelvis along with the movement of the hips and some improvised elements. It stands out for its sensuality and voluptuousness, for its vibrant percussion and the musical accompaniment of the whistles by the groups or brass bands.

Variations based on Samba

There are different variants of this dance: the baión, the march or the batucada. As for the musical instruments, in addition to the whistles, the tambourine, the chocalho and the cabaca are used.

It began to be popular in Brazil in the 19th century in the state of Bahia and later in Rio de Janeiro and today it is considered a expressioncultural of Brazilian people.

Historians and scholars of popular culture agree that the maxixe is dance precursor of samba and that also received elements of other dances, such as polka or habanera Cuban.

Historical origin

The word samba is a term of Bantu origin (semba), a tribe that came from Angola and that brought this form of dance to Brazil when its inhabitants were taken as slaves to America. It is believed that the African semba had a ritual meaning and that it was danced in a ceremony to invoke the gods.

Samba was an entertainment among the slaves who worked on the coffee plantations. This dance therefore had a double meaning for those enslaved men and women: remembering their authentic African origins and escaping through the rhythm.

From the religious to the playful

Although there is no written record, scholars of the slavery consider that Africans who danced samba with a focus religious and spiritual adapted to the new circumstances and modified the sense of the dance, transforming it into something playful. This assessment is quite plausible, since the slaves could not practice their religion normally.

The fact that samba is linked to slavery is not an isolated phenomenon, but is equally applicable to mambo or salsa or, in another sense, to capoeira.