Perhaps the most characteristic rhythm in Samba, and one which is most often danced wrong, is the 3/4-1/4-Whole rhythm.

Son Clave

Samba music is in 2/4 time with a high bass drum beat on the first beat, a lower foundation beat on the second beat, and highly syncopated rhythms played over the top. A bateria plays the rhythmical part, while melody instruments and singers play the tunes.

104 beats per minute

Samba, ballroom dance of Brazilian origin, popularized in western Europe and the United States in the early 1940s. Characterized by simple forward and backward steps and tilting, rocking body movements, it is danced to music in 4/4 time with syncopated rhythm.

samba music

• time signature 4/4 or 2/4.
• in a major key.
• an upbeat tempo.
• syncopated rhythms.
• no improvisation.
• features call & response and imitation.
• mainly percussion instruments. leader uses an apito (whistle) and repinique only one per band. trumpet used sometimes. surdo – has 3 different pitches high, medium & low.
• not melodic.

5 Styles

Samba is festive dance music and it is used in many types of ways. For example, it plays a huge role in Brazilian Carnival celebrations. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnival is a huge party that takes over the streets in the week or so leading up to Lent.

To make the samba performance more interesting, a samba band use one or more ‘breaks’. This is when the leader of the band plays different rhythms that everyone else then repeats back together.

A Samba band or samba is a musical ensemble that plays samba music. The rhythm section of a samba band consisting of drums is known as a bateria.

2/4

Brazilian

What Does It All Mean? “Samba” refers to prayer and the invoking of ones personal “orixa”, god, or saint. Samba music is of the people. It is the lower class Afro-Brazilian community and an expression of their culture, the morros, people of the hillside slums.

Batucada is a substyle of samba and refers to an African-influenced Brazilian percussive style, usually performed by an ensemble, known as a bateria. Batucada is characterized by its repetitive style and fast pace.

1980s

The origins of samba are linked to African drumming music. When people were transported to Brazil from Africa to work as slaves in the mines and sugar plantations, they brought aspects of their musical culture with them.

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.

1930s

Portuguese

Samba-jazz or Jazz samba is an instrumental subgenre of samba that emerged in the bossa nova ambit between the late 1950s and early 1960s in Brazil….

As a result of its connection to black culture, Samba in Brazil was criminalized and is sometimes still seen with prejudice, but this is changing more and more each year. This type of music is one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions and that’s why samba has become an icon of Brazilian national identity.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

As any repinique player will tell you, the hand marks the most important stroke within the beat. It’s this fourth stroke that gives samba its swinging nature, and its constant sensation of falling into the next beat.