Popular Music of Brazil: Samba. Samba “Tudo acaba em samba” Afro-Brazilian urban popular...
-
date post
22-Dec-2015 -
Category
Documents
-
view
290 -
download
5
Transcript of Popular Music of Brazil: Samba. Samba “Tudo acaba em samba” Afro-Brazilian urban popular...
Samba“Tudo acaba em samba”
• Afro-Brazilian urban popular song/dance form
• Origins in rural roda de samba:– Participatory– Accompanied by improvised songs and
percussion instruments– Style: syncopated, call and response vocals,
open-ended forms, musical interlock, diatonic melodies
Types of Samba
• Carnival samba (e.g. samba batucada and samba enredo)– Characterized by heavy percussion, songs
about themes presented in Carnival
• (Year-round) samba– Characterized by light percussion and plucked
string accompaniment (guitar, cavaquinho)– Songs often satiric, witty, improvised
Musical Characteristics
• 2/4 time, emphasis on second beat (as played by surdo drums)
• Other percussion plays interlocking, syncopated lines
• Songs are strophic; major or minor keys; usually easy to sing
• Chords limited to triads or seven chords
Carnival Samba• Arose in Rio de Janeiro, early 1900s
• Part of pre-Lenten festivities (called “Carnival:)”
• Associated in past with poor Afro-Brazilians; “street music” vs. music of the salon
Carnival
• Escolas de samba: large musical organizations, includes percussionists, singers, dancers, samba composers, choreographers, designers
• Determine theme, compose song, design float and costumes
• Compete during parade
Carnival and the State
• Before 1930, Afro-Brazilian instruments (drums; pandeiro) and cultural practices (e.g. candomble; capoeira) were banned.
• 1930 – dictator Getulio Vargas begins subsidizing samba schools (approx. 15) in exchange for cooperation with gov’t
• Samba schools have made Carnival in Rio a major tourist attraction
Escolas de Samba
• Mangueira (1929; colors: pink and green)
• Portela (1935; colors: blue and white)
Samba Batucada
• Instruments of the Batería:– Surdo drums (basic
pulse in 2 divided among three sizes of surdo)
– Pandeiro (sixteenth-note division)
– Cuíca (accents)– Tamborim
(syncopation)– Caíxa (snare drum)
Samba Songs
• Upbeat songs, in 2/4 with light percussion (pandeiro; tamborim; cuica)
• Emphasis on voice• Lyrics are about samba;
love; sometimes social commentary
• Carmen Miranda (1909-1955); film and recording star; introduced Brazilian music to world