Le Cri - The samba

whole world through the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro.

Purely carioca (i.e. of Rio) music, the Samba finds its origins in Africa of course but especially in the North-East of Brazil and in the Candomblé ceremonies and its carioca version, the Macumba.

Besides, the "touristic" picture that one has of this music do not must hide a reality a lot musically richer, and culturally deeper.

Semba thus formed part of the angolan tradition of rhythms and dances of fecondity (Semba means navel). Nothing surprising when one sees the sensuality which emerges from the dance of the current Samba !

One supposes that the Samba was born thus, from various influences and in various forms, before being a great success at the time of the Carnival of 1917 with the song "Pelo Telefone".

Consequently, its evolution and history are closely related to the carnival.

On a rhythmic plan, the principle of the Samba is relatively simple : measurement is at two times, with a stressing on the 2e time. On this basis, each instrument "put on" its patern, to form with the unit a sometimes complex and very dynamic polyrythmy.

The instruments vary according to styles but one can quote the surdo, the caixa, the repique, the tamborim and the cuica, musical symbol of Rio de Janeiro (For more details, go to the page "Discover the Percussions").

The percussion orchestra, the Batucada, in general accompanies a song, of which the words, according to styles of Samba, are satirical, political or romantic.

The Samba has known several phases of evolution inside and outside the Carnival : the Thirties, with the composer Noel Rosa, the Fifties, with the flutist Pixinguinha and since the Eighties with Paulinho da Viola.

Various styles of Samba thus emerged, played and danced by various sociocultural cariocas groups ; one counts many alternatives of Samba between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo of which :

The Carnival then was divided in two forms, one practised in the salons by the privileged classes in the form of masked balls, then coloured processions at the rhythm of the European dances, the other practised by the poorest classes which ravelled in the streets at the sound of the drums and afro-Brazilian songs.

Little by little, Cordoès, groups of men, started to ravel and were organized in Ranchos, where the social classes and the rhythms were mixed.

In order to reassure the authorities and to pretend the propriety, they created, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Schools of Samba whose oldest, Estação Primeira de Mangueira, is still today one of the most prestigious with Portela.

Since 1935, and especially 1984, date of construction of the "Sambodromo", the Schools ravel in front of thousands of spectators for a contest which each formation feverishly prepares during all the year. In this context, the coordination role of the Mestre de Bateria is essential because the musicians, between 300 and 400 (!), are distributed at a very long distance.

The percussions present in Enredo are mainly the following ones : surdo, caixa, tamborim, chocalhos, cuica.

According to periods of the social and political life of Brazil, the lyrics of the songs are dedicated to the historical characters, to the Brazilian people or, contrary, are transformed into ironic criticism of the country.

The Chôro samba, which is characterized by the presence of the flute whose melodic phrases is repeated by the singer. Its origin goes up in the "Chôro" instrumental carioca music in the end of the 19th century, inspired by the Portuguese Fado.

Played by street musicians, the repertory of the Chôro is composed of melancholic (chorô wanting to say "tears" in Brazilian) or romantic melodies and "in fashion" dances.

In the Thirties, the Chôro became more sophisticated and mixed with the rhythm of the Samba.

Great composers and interpreters were inspired by it like Noel Rosa and the famous flutist Pixinguinha with his various orchestras like Oitos Batutos and A Velha Guarda.

The Chôro Samba is played in general with the following instruments : surdo, ganza or recoreco, pandeiro, 7 cord-guitar, cavaquinho (small typical carioca guitar) and flute.

Born from meetings of musicians at the tables of bars or in the courtyards (besides the first group was called Fundo De Quintal, literally "bottom of the garden"), this style of music owes its convivial aspect to its simplicity in the execution and the orchestration : a musician launches the rhythmic or a series of chords on the cavaquinho and the singer soloist improvises texts or launches (often banal) verses repeated in chorus by the musicians. The music is much less sound than in the other styles of Samba, with "played-with-hand" versions of the surdo (tão-tão) or the repique (repique de mão).

The tamborim is there too but played with a stick for a less claquant sound, as well as the pandeiro and the cuica.

Among the other forms of Samba one can quote : the Samba do Partido Alto (Samba syncopated known as of "high quality"), the Samba de Breque (often representing the "Malandro", typical character of Rio), the Samba Canção (slow and very sentimental Samba), the Sambolero (directly inspired by Mexican and cuban rhythms), the Samba de Gafieira (cabaret Samba ) and the Sambalanço, both inspired by the Jazz, the Samba de Roda (closely related to Capoeira), etc.

Today, new styles appears, sometimes of purely commercial inspiration, such as the Sambaneja (mixture of Samba and Sertaneja music), the Swingue of São Paulo (marked by the American Soul music), or the Rap Samba.

One finds in all the forms of Samba an essential aspect of the carioca character : the "Saudade", often (and roughly) translated by "nostalgia", that one finds in other styles derived from the Samba as the Bossa Nova created in the Fifties by Vinicius de Moraès, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto.

The majority of the African dances and rhythms are related to the events of life or death, with the natural or supernatural phenomena and the human activities as hunting or war.

When the inhabitants of Nordeste, primarily poor black ppopulations, migrated towards the southern cities to populate what will become the "favelas", at the end of the 19th century, they brought their beliefs and musics which very quickly mixed with the local habits and musics like the Carnival, European Polka etc...