Samba #2

I have heard many explanations for the birth of the word samba.

And, since, I can’t be sure which one is most likely to be correct, I will refrain from mentioning any of them.

One thing we know for sure is that samba was developed in urban Rio de Janeiro in the closing years if the nineteenth century.

And that like American jazz both the music, and the dance that evolved out of it, is strongly influenced by the rhythms and movements of Africa.

Many people associate it with Carnival in Rio.

They’re right.

Others associate it with Carnival throughout Brazil.

They’re wrong.

In Holinda, for example, the music of Carnival is the frevo.

In Salvador, it’s the axé.

The first samba to be recorded was Pelo Telefone, back in 1917.

Since then, the samba has evolved into many sub-genres, each of which has earned a particular name.

There’s the samba canção (canção means “song”). I posted a good example of a samba canção last week in my post entitled Samba #1.Then there’s  the samba enredo, performed by the great samba schools of Rio and São Paulo during Carnival. (Samba schools are large organizations of up to 5000 people which compete annually with thematic floats, elaborate costumes and original music. For a look at what they’re all about check out my post of February 7, 2010 and entitled The Greatest Show on Earth. You’ll find it in the archives of this blog.)

Other forms of the samba include the partido aldo, the samba de gafieira, the samba de breque, the pagoda and the bossa nova.

The last of these was inaugurated by João Gilberto, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais, men who spawned a generation of disciples.

But no one did it better than the masters themselves.

Here are Tom and João performing Desafinado. (Out of Tune.)

About the dance:

You can spot a Brazilian dancing the samba from a kilometer away.

They learn it young.

Watch the rotational hip movement and the footwork.

My wife can do it.

I can’t.

Leighton - Monday

The Greatest Show on Earth

Not the Ringling Brothers Circus.

The parade of the great samba schools during Rio de Janeiro’s annual carnival.

Six schools perform each night; it takes place on the Saturday and Sunday before the beginning of lent, from about ten at night until long after dawn. This year it will be on the coming weekend.

Spectators and participants alike take the Metro (underground/subway) to get to the sambodrome. It’s part of the fun. You can count on the cars being packed with people in full costume. If you go, I recommend that you plan a year or so in advance, get together with three other people and take one of the tables that front on the barrier. They’re only an arm’s length away from the action.

If you’re like my wife, you’re going to arrive in costume and, when the time comes, you’ll join your samba school. 

Anyone can participate. You send them money, and they’ll make you a costume. They’ll also send you the music and the lyrics. You’re expected to attend at least one rehearsal, but you’ll want to do that anyway, because it’s a lot of fun..

If you’re positioned anywhere near the front of the school, you’ll be back at your table before the last participants go by.

Even moving at a pretty good clip, it will take them an hour and twenty minutes to cover the ground.

Exactly an hour and twenty minutes, no more and no less.

If it’s less, you lose impact.

If it’s more you lose points.

And the points are important because in addition to being a show, the parades are a deadly serious competition. Each year, one of the twelve schools of the first category is demoted and one of a lesser category is raised. Schools are judged on many parameters including music, rhythm section, floats, costumes, the performance of the Porta Bandeira (the lady who carries the school’s colors) and even the degree of enthusiasm of the participants.

You want to win, of course. But, most of all, you want to avoid the disgrace of having your school expelled from the first group.

My wife’s school (oh, yes, there are loyalties here, just as there are in futebol) is Salgueiro, or more properly (as below) G.R.E.S. Acadêmicos do Salgueiro.

Their colors are red and white.

As they’re about ready to kick off, she’ll be down there amid the massed ambulances and medical personnel (a number of heart attacks are suffered each year) surrounded by a lot of very nervous people.

And I’ll be sipping a beer and waiting for the red and white skyrockets to go off. Then, over the loudspeaker system that lines the Avenue Marquês de Sapucai, there’s a shout from the guy charged with singing the samba. “Here comes Salgueiro.”

And they come indeed, all 5,000 of them. Click on the link to get a hint of how Salgueiro sounded last year. But it’s only a hint. There is no way to capture the sound of 5,000 people in motion singing to a battery of 500 rhythm instruments.

http://tinyurl.com/Salgueiro2009

By the way, they won!

Leighton - Monday