With the Brazilian World Cup being broadcasted on TV’s nationwide on June 12, Brazil will be under heavy spotlight from the media, and with it, its music also. The most prominent and well-known genre in Brazil is their samba, an upbeat danceable style that was born of the mix between the countries’ African origins and its Portuguese influences around the early 20th century. Samba, with it’s 2/4 rhythm, is what creates the exotic and sensual feeling that is Brazil and in so creates the overall idea that, as many Brazilians will tell you, “everything ends up in samba.”
However, in order to understand the true importance of samba, it is important to understand the language behind it. Hidden in the lyrics are examples of the national search for a true identity of what it means to be Brazilian as well as critiques of how some social groups were treated by the government. In the early 20th century, though, the government censored much of what was allowed to be seen by the public, so that in order for the people’s voice to be heard, it had to be filtered through the sounds of samba.
How to know the music is Samba:
- 2/4 percussion
- Solo singer on verse with a large group of singers for the Chorus
- Instruments such as guitar and tamborim
- You have an overwhelming need to dance
Additionally, while samba is the most prominent musical genre in Brazil, each of the country’s music types represents a different kind of social or political movement that helped mold the country into what it is today.
As an added bonus, here is one of the better-known Samba songs to get you started!
So this June, when you’re watching all of the Brazilian World Cup’s glamour and exoticness, you can appreciate not only the beauty of the country, but maybe if you check out a few Portuguese phrasebooks, you can pick up some of the hidden messages in its music that helped create the region as we know it today.
