Samba Music History

Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil where Samba originated. Samba was firstly evolved in Rio, Brazil and it became a new and unique genre in the early twentieth century. The blacks would come together to form a group and play different kinds of percussive instruments such as surdos, caixas, tamborins, cuica, reco-reco and agogo and dance. There are no proper written notations for Samba music as many devotees say, “It’s something that runs in my veins, it’s in my blood.” This is what makes Samba music unique, as it is clear that Samba music comes purely from the heart and it is a form of expression.

Since the liberation in 1888, the immigrants were striving to make living. They were working as costermongers and helpers. Some of them were

Tia Ciata whose real name is Hilaria Batista de Almeida was one of the pivotal figures that helped the development of Samba. She opened her house at Rua Visconde de Inhauma number 177, which is near Praca Onze to be the place to hold a party for Bahians and a group of Carnaval, gypsy, hard-workers, writers and middle-class professionals. Among them were capable adolescent men in the parties who created entertaining music, which was influential for the future of Brazilian popular music such as Pixinguiha, Sinho, Donga and many more. Pixinguinha whose birth name was Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Jr. was one of the most influential figures and he was the founding father of Samba. He was a prodigy flutist with outstanding technique. Furthermore, he has immense creativity in improvisation, which led him to be a professional arranger. He was also a leader of “Os Oito Batutas” or The Eight Masters, a Samba-choro band. He brought choro (known as “New Orleans Jazz”) to greater heights with his unique counterpoint writing, and he is known as the Bach of choro. He has composed more than six hundred tunes including “Teus Ciumes” or Your Jealousies, “Ai Eu Queria” or How I Wanted it and “Samba de Negro” or Black’s Samba. (McGowan and Pessanha 21) On the other hand, Sinho whose birth name was Jose Barbosa da Silva was known as a new Pixinguiha. They even named him as “king of samba” with his

Samba also has verses and choruses formed with syncopation and interlocking between the main melody line and the accompaniment. The instruments Surdos, caixas, tamborins, cuica, reco-reco and agogo usually will have their own part and they interlock and compliment each other. Sometimes, the might have an accompaniment by a guitar, cavaquinho (a 4 string guitar) or brass instrument. (McGowan and Pessanha 21) “Pelo Telefone” or On The Telephone was the first ever Samba styled song to record and register but there were some controversies as to whether it is the first-true samba recorded. Nowadays, musicologists point to “Pelo Telefone” as a Samba-maxixe and it was a hit Carnaval composition in