History of Samba
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Samba is an extremely popular form of music which birthed in the city of Rio de Janeiro. History shows that samba was first discovered between late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
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There are many schools of thought, when it comes to the origin of the word ‘samba’. Some say it came from the Arabic word ‘Zambra’ or ‘Zamba’, while there are others who say that it has come from the African language called Kimbundu, in which ‘sam’ means to give, ‘ba’ means to receive.
The first original samba to be recorded was entitled ‘Pelo Telefone’ or ‘By Phone’. This was in 1971. The song is believed to have been penned by Ernesto dos Santos and Mauro de Almeida. ‘Pelo Telefone’ was hugely successful, and this first samba composition had more people across Brazil appreciate this form of music.
Though initially it was seen just as Carnival music, samba soon started carving a niche for itself as an independent music form. Composers and their works started getting noticed, like Heitor dos Prazeres, João da Bahiana, Pixinguinha and Sinhô. These samba compositions were labeled as ‘amaxixados’ or ‘a mix of maxixe’, and were called sambas-maxixes.
Samba in its current avatar showed up towards the end of the nineteen-twenties, and those responsible for this phenomenon were groups of composers who worked on carnival music, in neighborhoods like Estácio de Sá, Osvaldo Cruz, Salgueiro, São Carlos and Mangueira. New talent started getting noticed, notable among them being composers Ismael Silva, Cartola, Zé Kéti, Candeia and many more.
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