Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Music of Brazil Samba The word Samba, in Portuguese, was derived from semba, a word common to many West African bantu languages. To the African slaves brought to Brazil during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the word had a variety of meanings. It meant to pray, or invoke the spirits of the ancestors, or the Gods of African pantheon. As a noun, it could mean a complaint, a cry, or something like "the blues". In Brazil, Samba is a woman with the same function of an ekedi nagô in the banto's temples: A sacred dancer, iaô, the daughter of the saint. In Brazil also, the African slaves called samba a religious ceremony characterized by the rhythm and choreography of the batuque. (Batuque: the act of "batucar"; to make some kind of rhythm using any kind of instrument or object, and also a Rio's version of martial art "capoeira"). The Jongo, a variant of the Samba, until today is considered a religious dance. The first known appearance of the word Samba as a Portuguese word meaning a rhythm and a dance in print appeared in 1838, in the newspaper "O Carapuceiro", in an article written by father Lopes Gama. In 1917, Ernesto dos Santos "Donga", recorded his song "Pelo telefone", and labeled Samba. Thi