Music Education for Children in South London
Where does Samba come from?
Samba is a style of music and dance from Brazil. Samba is often about celebrating the ups and downs of life. It can be political, romantic or funny, but inevitably wants to make you dance.
Salvador is a colourful and vibrant city,
with a rich history of music and dance.
The music we play is mainly Samba Reggae, from the city Salvador in Bahia, North East Brazil.
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The roots of samba can be traced back hundreds of years. It's origins lie in dance music of the formerly enslaved African Brazilian people.
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Playing samba and dancing in a circle was a way of celebrating freedom and identity, a way of holding onto important traditions and feeling safe.
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'Samba de Roda' - Circle for Dance
As people began to move around Brazil in the early 20th Century, samba music also traveled. Workers from the north moved to the south to find better jobs and they took their music with them.
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In the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, samba music was enjoyed and adapted by many people which led in time, to new styles being developed such as samba batucada, bossa nova, chorinho and pagode.
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You can listen to examples of these styles on the resource page.
In the 1970s, (roughly 100 years after slavery became illegal in Brazil), there was a return to celebrating African roots culture.
In Salvador, Afro-Brazilian communities and musicians took on the changes in samba music and adapted the sound further.
They mixed Rio samba rhythms with reggae from the Caribbean, and re-introduced a more African style of dancing, that celebrated pride in their heritage (history and culture). Samba Reggae was born...
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