Samba
As a basic BPM genre, the origins of samba can be found in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. It was born in the houses of "aunts" from Bahia who settled in downtown Rio, from lundu descent, in religious parties and capoeira meetings, with tambourine and clap beats. The region where they lived was known as "Little Africa". Although previous recordings had been registered as samba, the song Pelo Telefone, recorded in 1917, is credited as being the style’s milestone.
Alcebíades Barcellos, a.k.a. Bide, Armando Marçal, Newton Bastos, Ismael Silva and gangsters/samba composers Baiaco, Brancura, Mano Edgar and Mano Rubem, or the "Estácio Gang", injected a more edgy cadence to samba, being endorsed by middle-class musicians like former medical student Noel Rosa and former law student Ary Barroso, who gave the style a new dimension through their memorable works. The radio boom in the 30s granted samba enormous promotion through singers such as Francisco Alves, Orlando Silva, Silvio Caldas, Mário Reis, Carmen Miranda – who managed to project the style abroad through her movies – and later, Dalva de Oliveira, Aracy de Almeida and Elizeth Cardoso, among others.
Artists like the sophisticated Dorival Caymmi, Custódio Mesquita and his elaborate harmonies, Pedro Caetano’s swing, Assis Valente and his tropicalist costumes, Sinval Silva’s temperance, Herivelto Martins and his luxurious populism and Ataulfo Alves’ countryside accent led the samba, already driven by the music industry, through different paths. Ary Barroso’s Aquarela do Brasil became the first Brazilian anthem abroad.
Acknowledgment
Pushed away due to real estate speculation, Little Africa spread over the hills of Rio and early favelas where new songwriters like Cartola, Carlos Cachaça, Nelson Cavaquinho, Geraldo Pereira, Paulo da Portela, Alcides Malandro Histórico, Manacé, Chico Santana, Molequinho and Aniceto were emerging. Samba grew, regarded as Brazil’s national identity by intellectuals like Villa-Lobos, who put up a historic recording session in 1940 with American maestro Leopold Stokowski and samba composers Cartola, Donga, João da Baiana, Pixinguinha and Zé da Zilda.
As Ismael Silva founded the samba school Deixa Falar in 1928, samba schools became a phenomenon, boosting other sub-genres like partido-alto and samba-enredo, the soundtrack of samba school parades. The schools Mangueira, Portela, Império Serrano and Salgueiro, and later Mocidade Independente, Beija-Flor and Imperatriz Leopoldinense would expand and take over carnival celebrations until turning the parades into pure show business, with great impact on tourism.
Urban concentration areas fomented the appearance of the first popular nightclubs, called gafieiras, which produced their own style - the samba-choro or gafieira samba, very syncopated. Still in the 30s, the samba de breque came around – with pauses filled in with rap-like speeches –, helping crystallize the gangster persona created by Moreira da Silva, as well as the sub-genre samba-canção, or samba-tune. In São Paulo and Bahia, samba would receive tints of the local cultures.
After World War II, the cultural influence of America fomented the emergence of bossa nova, which proposed a different fashion to divide the samba phrases, gathering influence from the jazz as conceived by João Gilberto, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Johnny Alf, João Donato Luís Bonfá and Garoto. The style would have its own generation of pupils like Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Durval Ferreira and groups like Tamba Trio, Bossa 3, Zimbo Trio and pioneering vocal group Os Cariocas. At the same time a popular and enhanced sub-style called sambalanço projected Elza Soares, Miltinho, Luis Bandeira, Ed Lincoln, Luis Antonio, Djalma Ferreira and many others. Internal disputes within the bossa realms originated Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes’ afro-sambas. Besides, part of the movement re-approached original samba, revitalizing the so-called "favela composers": Zé Kéti, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Elton Medeiros and later Candeia, Monarco, Monsueto and newcomer Paulinho da Viola.
The showcase Rosa de Ouro, produced by Hemínio Bello de Carvalho, revealed Clementina de Jesus, the lost link to samba’s African origins. Paulinho da Viola, with his punch that mixed samba and choro, would be turned into a traditional samba ambassador for more avant-garde audiences and also for the tropicalists. Also from within the bossa, a samba modifier would arise: Jorge Ben, with his style "mixed with maracatu" and a rhythm & blues approach that would later allow the appearance of a samba sub-genre called sambaswing.
Time for revitalization
Drifted away from the spotlight during the festival era (the 60s), samba would have its revenge in the late 60s, when Martinho Da Vila surfaced. Besides popularizing the sub-genre partido-alto, the guy from Rio compressed the samba-enredo, magnifying its commercial potential. In the early 70s, a new revitalization spree would project three big seller divas, Alcione, Beth Carvalho and Clara Nunes, as well as singer Roberto Ribeiro and songwriters João Nogueira, Nei Lopes and Wilson Moreira. Heir to Gilberto Gil, Baden Powell and Dorival Caymmi’s guitar styles, João Bosco and poet Aldir Blanc would innovate traditional samba – Aldir has kept doing it through the 90s along with Guinga and Moacyr Luz. Still by the late 70s, Beth Carvalho would become a regular at samba meetings, where she would discover the (then) new samba trend, pagode, explored in her 1978 album De Pé no Chão.
The sub-genre, punctuated by the banjo and percussion, would be a response to the decadence of samba in the 80s, which had no space to blossom except for the composers’ backyards, who played for their neighbors. The first solo albums by pagode composers projected Zeca Pagodinho, Almir Guineto, Jovelina Pérola Negra and the group Fundo de Quintal. From Pernambuco (NE), Bezerra da Silva would imprint his gangsta sambas in the same period.
The label pagode would also be used on the following decade to describe a type of pop- samba inspired in romantic ballads, which would generate the emergence of numerous ‘clones’ more or less related to the samba roots: Raça Negra, Negritude Jr., Art Popular and Só Pra Contrariar . The main ingredient, though, has survived, fed by the revitalization of old school masters still in activity, like Nelson Sargento, Monarco, Noca da Portela, Wilson das Neves, Walter Alfaiate, as well as Old School Portela and Mangueira and the persistent activists Nei Lopes, Luis Carlos da Vila and Wilson Moreira.
Songs
Pelo Telefone (Donga/ Mauro de Almeida) – Baiano
Batuque na Cozinha (João da Baiana) – João da Baiana
Jura (Sinhô) – Mário Reis
Ai, Ioiô (Linda flor) (Henrique Vogeler/ Marques Porto/ Luis Peixoto) – Araci Cortes
Arrasta a Sandália (Baiaco/ Aurélio Gomes) – Moreira da Silva
Agora É Cinza (Bide/ Marçal) – Mário Reis
Se Você Jurar (Ismael Silva/ Newton Bastos/ Francisco Alves) – Francisco Alves e Mário Reis
Feitiço da Vila (Noel Rosa/ Vadico) – Aracy de Almeida
O Que É Que a Baiana Tem? (Dorival Caymmi) – Carmen Miranda e Dorival Caymmi
Praça Onze (Herivelto Martins/ Grande Otelo) – Trio de Ouro
Ai, Que Saudades da Amélia (Ataulfo Alves/ Mário Lago) – Ataulfo Alves
Juramento Falso (Pedro Caetano) – Silvio Caldas e Elizeth Cardoso
Acertei no Milhar (Wilson Batista/ Geraldo Pereira) – Moreira da Silva
Escurinho (Geraldo Pereira) – Cyro Monteiro
Quem Me Vê Sorrir (Cartola/ Carlos Cachaça) – Cartola
Aquarela do Brasil (Ary Barroso) – Francisco Alves
Brasa (Lupicínio Rodrigues) – Orlando Silva
A Flor e o Espinho (Nelson Cavaquinho/ Guilherme de Brito) – Nelson Cavaquinho e Guilherme de Brito
A Voz do Morro (Zé Kéti) – Jorge Goulart
Saudosa Maloca (Adoniran Barbosa) – Demônios da Garoa
Mora na Filosofia (Monsueto Menezes/ Arnaldo Passos) – Marlene
Samba do Avião (Tom Jobim) – Os Cariocas
Cadê Tereza? (Jorge Ben) – Jorge Ben e Originais do Samba
Canto de Ossanha (Baden Powell/ Vinicius de Moraes) – Elis Regina
Aquele Abraço (Gilberto Gil) – Gilberto Gil
Heróis da Liberdade (Silas de Oliveira/ Mano Décio/ Manoel Ferreira) – Roberto Ribeiro
Cântico à Natureza (Nelson Sargento/ Jamelão/ A. Lourenço) – Jamelão
Foi um Rio que Passou em Minha Vida (Paulinho da Viola) – Paulinho da Viola
Casa de Bamba (Martinho da Vila) – Martinho da Vila
Pressentimento (Elton Medeiros/ Hermínio Bello de Carvalho) – Elza Soares Brasil Pandeiro (Assis Valente) – Novos Baianos
Mestre-Sala dos Mares(João Bosco/ Aldir Blanc) – João Bosco
O Mar Serenou (Candeia) – Clara Nunes
Gostoso Veneno (Wilson Moreira/ Nei Lopes) – Alcione
Clube do Samba (João Nogueira) – João Nogueira
Sonho Meu (D. Ivone Lara/ Delcio Carvalho) - Clementina de Jesus e D. Ivone Lara
Vou Festejar (Jorge Aragão/ Neoci/ Dida) – Beth Carvalho
Cidade do Pé Junto (Zeca Pagodinho/ Beto Sem Braço) – Zeca Pagodinho
Candidato Caô Caô (Pedro Butina/ Walter Meninão) – Bezerra da Silva
Catavento e Girassol (Guinga/ Aldir Blanc) – Leila Pinheiro
Alcebíades Barcellos, a.k.a. Bide, Armando Marçal, Newton Bastos, Ismael Silva and gangsters/samba composers Baiaco, Brancura, Mano Edgar and Mano Rubem, or the "Estácio Gang", injected a more edgy cadence to samba, being endorsed by middle-class musicians like former medical student Noel Rosa and former law student Ary Barroso, who gave the style a new dimension through their memorable works. The radio boom in the 30s granted samba enormous promotion through singers such as Francisco Alves, Orlando Silva, Silvio Caldas, Mário Reis, Carmen Miranda – who managed to project the style abroad through her movies – and later, Dalva de Oliveira, Aracy de Almeida and Elizeth Cardoso, among others.
Artists like the sophisticated Dorival Caymmi, Custódio Mesquita and his elaborate harmonies, Pedro Caetano’s swing, Assis Valente and his tropicalist costumes, Sinval Silva’s temperance, Herivelto Martins and his luxurious populism and Ataulfo Alves’ countryside accent led the samba, already driven by the music industry, through different paths. Ary Barroso’s Aquarela do Brasil became the first Brazilian anthem abroad.
Acknowledgment
Pushed away due to real estate speculation, Little Africa spread over the hills of Rio and early favelas where new songwriters like Cartola, Carlos Cachaça, Nelson Cavaquinho, Geraldo Pereira, Paulo da Portela, Alcides Malandro Histórico, Manacé, Chico Santana, Molequinho and Aniceto were emerging. Samba grew, regarded as Brazil’s national identity by intellectuals like Villa-Lobos, who put up a historic recording session in 1940 with American maestro Leopold Stokowski and samba composers Cartola, Donga, João da Baiana, Pixinguinha and Zé da Zilda.
As Ismael Silva founded the samba school Deixa Falar in 1928, samba schools became a phenomenon, boosting other sub-genres like partido-alto and samba-enredo, the soundtrack of samba school parades. The schools Mangueira, Portela, Império Serrano and Salgueiro, and later Mocidade Independente, Beija-Flor and Imperatriz Leopoldinense would expand and take over carnival celebrations until turning the parades into pure show business, with great impact on tourism.
Urban concentration areas fomented the appearance of the first popular nightclubs, called gafieiras, which produced their own style - the samba-choro or gafieira samba, very syncopated. Still in the 30s, the samba de breque came around – with pauses filled in with rap-like speeches –, helping crystallize the gangster persona created by Moreira da Silva, as well as the sub-genre samba-canção, or samba-tune. In São Paulo and Bahia, samba would receive tints of the local cultures.
After World War II, the cultural influence of America fomented the emergence of bossa nova, which proposed a different fashion to divide the samba phrases, gathering influence from the jazz as conceived by João Gilberto, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Johnny Alf, João Donato Luís Bonfá and Garoto. The style would have its own generation of pupils like Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Durval Ferreira and groups like Tamba Trio, Bossa 3, Zimbo Trio and pioneering vocal group Os Cariocas. At the same time a popular and enhanced sub-style called sambalanço projected Elza Soares, Miltinho, Luis Bandeira, Ed Lincoln, Luis Antonio, Djalma Ferreira and many others. Internal disputes within the bossa realms originated Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes’ afro-sambas. Besides, part of the movement re-approached original samba, revitalizing the so-called "favela composers": Zé Kéti, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Elton Medeiros and later Candeia, Monarco, Monsueto and newcomer Paulinho da Viola.
The showcase Rosa de Ouro, produced by Hemínio Bello de Carvalho, revealed Clementina de Jesus, the lost link to samba’s African origins. Paulinho da Viola, with his punch that mixed samba and choro, would be turned into a traditional samba ambassador for more avant-garde audiences and also for the tropicalists. Also from within the bossa, a samba modifier would arise: Jorge Ben, with his style "mixed with maracatu" and a rhythm & blues approach that would later allow the appearance of a samba sub-genre called sambaswing.
Time for revitalization
Drifted away from the spotlight during the festival era (the 60s), samba would have its revenge in the late 60s, when Martinho Da Vila surfaced. Besides popularizing the sub-genre partido-alto, the guy from Rio compressed the samba-enredo, magnifying its commercial potential. In the early 70s, a new revitalization spree would project three big seller divas, Alcione, Beth Carvalho and Clara Nunes, as well as singer Roberto Ribeiro and songwriters João Nogueira, Nei Lopes and Wilson Moreira. Heir to Gilberto Gil, Baden Powell and Dorival Caymmi’s guitar styles, João Bosco and poet Aldir Blanc would innovate traditional samba – Aldir has kept doing it through the 90s along with Guinga and Moacyr Luz. Still by the late 70s, Beth Carvalho would become a regular at samba meetings, where she would discover the (then) new samba trend, pagode, explored in her 1978 album De Pé no Chão.
The sub-genre, punctuated by the banjo and percussion, would be a response to the decadence of samba in the 80s, which had no space to blossom except for the composers’ backyards, who played for their neighbors. The first solo albums by pagode composers projected Zeca Pagodinho, Almir Guineto, Jovelina Pérola Negra and the group Fundo de Quintal. From Pernambuco (NE), Bezerra da Silva would imprint his gangsta sambas in the same period.
The label pagode would also be used on the following decade to describe a type of pop- samba inspired in romantic ballads, which would generate the emergence of numerous ‘clones’ more or less related to the samba roots: Raça Negra, Negritude Jr., Art Popular and Só Pra Contrariar . The main ingredient, though, has survived, fed by the revitalization of old school masters still in activity, like Nelson Sargento, Monarco, Noca da Portela, Wilson das Neves, Walter Alfaiate, as well as Old School Portela and Mangueira and the persistent activists Nei Lopes, Luis Carlos da Vila and Wilson Moreira.
Songs
Pelo Telefone (Donga/ Mauro de Almeida) – Baiano
Batuque na Cozinha (João da Baiana) – João da Baiana
Jura (Sinhô) – Mário Reis
Ai, Ioiô (Linda flor) (Henrique Vogeler/ Marques Porto/ Luis Peixoto) – Araci Cortes
Arrasta a Sandália (Baiaco/ Aurélio Gomes) – Moreira da Silva
Agora É Cinza (Bide/ Marçal) – Mário Reis
Se Você Jurar (Ismael Silva/ Newton Bastos/ Francisco Alves) – Francisco Alves e Mário Reis
Feitiço da Vila (Noel Rosa/ Vadico) – Aracy de Almeida
O Que É Que a Baiana Tem? (Dorival Caymmi) – Carmen Miranda e Dorival Caymmi
Praça Onze (Herivelto Martins/ Grande Otelo) – Trio de Ouro
Ai, Que Saudades da Amélia (Ataulfo Alves/ Mário Lago) – Ataulfo Alves
Juramento Falso (Pedro Caetano) – Silvio Caldas e Elizeth Cardoso
Acertei no Milhar (Wilson Batista/ Geraldo Pereira) – Moreira da Silva
Escurinho (Geraldo Pereira) – Cyro Monteiro
Quem Me Vê Sorrir (Cartola/ Carlos Cachaça) – Cartola
Aquarela do Brasil (Ary Barroso) – Francisco Alves
Brasa (Lupicínio Rodrigues) – Orlando Silva
A Flor e o Espinho (Nelson Cavaquinho/ Guilherme de Brito) – Nelson Cavaquinho e Guilherme de Brito
A Voz do Morro (Zé Kéti) – Jorge Goulart
Saudosa Maloca (Adoniran Barbosa) – Demônios da Garoa
Mora na Filosofia (Monsueto Menezes/ Arnaldo Passos) – Marlene
Samba do Avião (Tom Jobim) – Os Cariocas
Cadê Tereza? (Jorge Ben) – Jorge Ben e Originais do Samba
Canto de Ossanha (Baden Powell/ Vinicius de Moraes) – Elis Regina
Aquele Abraço (Gilberto Gil) – Gilberto Gil
Heróis da Liberdade (Silas de Oliveira/ Mano Décio/ Manoel Ferreira) – Roberto Ribeiro
Cântico à Natureza (Nelson Sargento/ Jamelão/ A. Lourenço) – Jamelão
Foi um Rio que Passou em Minha Vida (Paulinho da Viola) – Paulinho da Viola
Casa de Bamba (Martinho da Vila) – Martinho da Vila
Pressentimento (Elton Medeiros/ Hermínio Bello de Carvalho) – Elza Soares Brasil Pandeiro (Assis Valente) – Novos Baianos
Mestre-Sala dos Mares(João Bosco/ Aldir Blanc) – João Bosco
O Mar Serenou (Candeia) – Clara Nunes
Gostoso Veneno (Wilson Moreira/ Nei Lopes) – Alcione
Clube do Samba (João Nogueira) – João Nogueira
Sonho Meu (D. Ivone Lara/ Delcio Carvalho) - Clementina de Jesus e D. Ivone Lara
Vou Festejar (Jorge Aragão/ Neoci/ Dida) – Beth Carvalho
Cidade do Pé Junto (Zeca Pagodinho/ Beto Sem Braço) – Zeca Pagodinho
Candidato Caô Caô (Pedro Butina/ Walter Meninão) – Bezerra da Silva
Catavento e Girassol (Guinga/ Aldir Blanc) – Leila Pinheiro
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