Samba History
The word "samba" originally meant to pray, and the dances were created and designed to invoke the dancer's personal God or saint. It was also believed to be derived from a Portuguese word, Semba. To the African American natives, the word was interpreted in many ways. In Brazil, Samba was also referred to a woman. There are other several theories about the birth of the word samba. One of them claims that samba came from the word Zambra or Zamba, both coming from Arabic, having been born when the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century. In Brazil, the word samba is a corruption of the Kikongo word Semba, as folklorists suggest translated as umbigada in Portuguese, meaning "a blow struck with the belly button".
Pernambuco magazine's O Carapuceiro, dated February 1838, showed One of the oldest records of the word samba 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. Over the centuries, the festival of dances of slaves in Bahia were called samba, According to Hiram Araújo da Costa.
Samba is a Brazilian dance and is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival. Considered one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions, together with Sertanejo, samba has become an icon of Brazilian national identity.
Samba is believed to emerge from a couple dance that was performed mainly amongst African Americans. There has been a considerable amount of speculation about the origins of this style. In a typical Samba performance, the music is accompanied by singing and dancing.
The samba is a rolling, rhythmic dance that Brazilians have made popular around the world. The dance's origins began with African slaves, and it was later combined with Brazilian Indian and European influences. The modern version arose in the beginning of the 20th century and has evolved since then into several branches.
It has been performed as a pre-lenten celebration, and as a street dance at carnival for almost 100 years. Samba (from Baion to Marcha) are danced at the local carnival in Rio with many versions. The ballroom Samba or Carioca Samba is derived from the rural "Rocking Samba" and has been known for many years. (The Carioca is a small river that runs through Rio de Janiero - hence the name Carioca refers to the people of Rio.) Today Samba is still very popular in Rio. During carnival time there are "schools of Samba" involving thousands of elaborately-costumed dancers presenting a national theme based on music typical of Brazil and Rio in particular.
In the 1800s, the local dances were incorporated into the Brazilian Carnaval celebration similar to the Mardi Gras. The Portuguese and other European settlers introduced their own moves, including holding your partner. By 1885, this developed into a dance called the Zemba Queca, and then into the Mesemba.
In the early 1900s, the dance was combined with another popular dance called the Maxixe, and became the earliest version of the modern samba.
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.
It was known under a Brazilian name "Maxixe" before 1914. However, in 1917, "Pelo Telefone" ("By Phone") was recorded, and it is considered the first true samba. The song was claimed to be authored by Ernesto dos Santos, best known as Donga, 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.
The contours of the modern samba came only at the end of the 1920s, from the innovations of a group of composers. Since then, there have been many great names in samba, such as Ary Barroso, Noel Rosa, Ataulfo Alves, Wilson BatistaIsmael Silva, Cartola, Geraldo Pereira, Zé Kéti, Candeia, Ciro Monteiro, Nelson Cavaquinho, Elton Medeiros, Paulinho da Viola, Martinho da Vila, and many others.
An international meeting of professors of dancing took note of the rise of the Samba's popularity as early as 1923, particularly in France. Samba instructions were included on a French dance book published in 1928 by Paul Boucher. The dance was introduced to United States movie audiences in 1933 when Fred Astaire, an American film and Broadway singer and Dolores Del Rio, a Mexican film actress, danced the Carioca in Flying Down to Rio and several years later, Carmen Miranda, a Brazilian samba singer, danced the Samba in That Night in Rio. A Samba exhibition was given at the November 1938 meeting of the New York Society of Teachers of Dancing. General interest in the Samba was stimulated at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, where Samba music was played at the Brazilian Pavilion. A few years later the Brazilian composer Ary Barroso wrote the classic Samba, "Brasil," which quickly became a hit, and in 1944 he went to Hollywood to write the score for the musical Brazil.
Samba has a very individual rhythm, emphasized to its best by characteristic Brazilian musical instruments: originally called tamborim, chocalho, reco-reco and cabaca. Much of Samba music came from daily life in Rio. To achieve the true character of the Samba a dancer must give it a cheerful, seductive and lavish interpretation. Many movements, used in the Samba today, require a pelvic tilt (Samba tic) action. This action is hard to do, but without it the dance loses much of its effect. Principal characteristics of the Samba are the rapid steps taken on a quarter of a beat and the pronounced rocking motion and sway of the dancing couple.
The Samba (also known as the Brazilian Waltz) is now a moderately popular ballroom dance, limited pretty much to experienced ballroom dancers because of its speed. 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.