| Samba rock | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1950s,São Paulo, Brazil |
| Regional scenes | |
| Brazil | |
| Other topics | |
Samba rock (also known assamba soul or confused withsamba funk andsambalanço) is a Brazilian dance culture andmusic genre that fusessamba withrock,soul, andfunk. It emerged from the dance parties ofSão Paulo's lower-classblack communities after they had been exposed torock and roll andAfrican-American music in the late 1950s.
As a development of 1960smúsica popular brasileira, the genre was pioneered by recording acts such asJorge Ben,Tim Maia, andTrio Mocotó. It gained a wider popularity in the following decades after breaking through intodiscotheques. By the 2000s, samba rock had grown into a broader cultural movement involving dancers, disc jockeys, scholars, and musicians, who reinvented the genre in a modernized form.
Samba rock's origins lie in the predominantlyblackfavelas ofSão Paulo during the late 1950s, when Brazilian radio and dance halls were reached by the global spread of Americanrock and roll and relatedAfrican-American music such asblues andjazz. Its first incarnation was as a dance phenomenon at communityblock parties that began to play these styles alongside traditionalsamba andbolero music. These parties eventually moved to larger venues hosted bydisc jockeys.[1]
The first known samba-rock deejay Osvaldo Pereira—known by his stage name "Orquestra Invisível (Invisible Orchestra) Let’s Dance"—debuted in 1958 in downtown São Paulo. "The parties started to get crowded, and the rooms for the parties started to get larger", Pereira recounted. "Then, I thought of building my own equipment, which had to be powerful, and faithful to the sound of the live orchestras." His early equipment included a 100-watt sound system featuring a rudimentary version of acrossover, which allowed Pereira to control the frequencies of the music.[1]
In the earliest samba-rock parties, deejays played music from a number of genres, includingPartido Alto sambas andItalian rock, while attendees joined in pairs and engaged in rock and roll (Lindy Hop,Rockabilly) and samba dances (Samba de Gafieira). In 1957, Brazilian pianist Waldir Calmon recorded a samba version ofBill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", which was a turning point for the events; according to Brazilian journalist Beatriz Miranda, "gradually, partygoers turned all the rock and samba moves into one single dance style, later named samba rock."[1]
The dances of samba rock honor an exchange between the original music and a variety of other styles, according to Mestre Ataliba, one of São Paulo's first samba-rock dance instructors. "Dance wise, samba rock is about relaxation and concentration, all at once", he said. "It blends the African 'ginga' (body flow fromCapoeira), which is present at the feet and the hips, and the European reference of theballroom etiquette. We can dance it to the sound ofRita Pavone,samba pagode,reggae,R&B. It really embraces every music culture".[1]
The samba-rock genre developed during the 1960s with popular Brazilian recording musicians who fused samba with Americanrock,soul, andfunk influences.[2] This development occurred alongside theTropicália artistic movement within mid-1960smúsica popular brasileira (MPB), which itself had modernized traditionalbossa novarhythms with influences from other Brazilian and internationalpop rock sounds.[3] Originators of samba rock includedTrio Mocotó,Tim Maia, andJorge Ben, who has been considered the "father of samba rock".[4]
Ben's early music contributed significantly to the genre's rhythmic identity. Departing from bossa nova's European musical influences, the singer drew on African-American styles—such as jazz, rhythm and blues, and eventuallysoul,funk, androck music—to develop a unique rhythm, which he called "sacundim sacundem".[5] Stylistically, Ben combined samba with instruments and features from rock and roll, including the electric guitar, drum kit, andreverberation.[6] According toImpose magazine's Jacob McKean, "the horn-heavy big band sound" on the song "Take It Easy My Brother Charles" (fromBen's 1969 self-titled album) is a key element of the genre.[7] His 1970 albumFôrça Bruta, recorded with Trio Mocotó, was also pioneering of samba rock in its fusion of the band's groove-based accompaniment and the more rockish rhythms of Ben's guitar.[8] Their instrumental set-ups during the 1970s often featured guitar, thepandeiro, and thetimbau, a traditional drum.[1]
Many other musicians emulated and expanded on Ben's style.[6] Their sound became known as samba rock; it has also been referred to as samba soul,samba funk, and sambalanço (aportmanteau of samba andbalanço, meaningswing orbeat in Portuguese).[9] The genre became defined by the drum kit,bass guitar,keyboard,brass instruments, a stronggroove, and "tumxicutumxicutum", an onomatopoeia referring to samba rock's distinctive rhythm. According to Clube do Balanço vocalist and guitarist Marco Mattoli, "the song must always be good to dance to, otherwise it does not make sense. It does limit the composing process, but creates a cultural identity to our band. Today, we cannot see it as rock, samba, soul or funk anymore. Samba rock turned into an original thing."[1]
Samba rock reached mainstream audiences in the late 1960s.[6] It became more popular during the 1970s and 1980s, especially indiscotheques. This gave more exposure to Ben, Trio Mocotó, and other acts from São Paulo's black music scene, although none of them declared themselves samba-rock artists. Ben's songs in particular became enduring favorites at traditional samba-rock parties. In subsequent years, samba rock developed from a dance phenomenon and music style into a complex cultural movement, involving musicians, producers, DJs, dancers, visual artists, and scholars. The parties eventually came to includebig bands andhip hop, alongside samba music.[1]
In the early 2000s, the genre was refashioned in a more modernized form featuring electronicsamples, departing from the traditional set-up of Ben and Trio Mocotó's 1970s music. This newer form was typified by the bands Sandália de Prata and Clube do Balanço, who first played middle-class areas of São Paulo.[1] The new wave of artists deliberately created music that would suit samba-rock dances.[10] In 2001,Universal Music Brasil capitalized on this resurgence of samba rock with the "Samba Soul" reissue series, re-releasing albums by Ben and other 1970s performers of the style.[11] Ben, who still performed at this time, was recognized byTime Out as an "aging maestro" representative of the "favela samba rock" contingent in the contemporary MPB scene.[12]
Samba rock's modernization has seen its incorporation intodance academy curriculum, gym classes, party productions, dance collectives, and other events.[13] Samba-rock dance forms of the past were revisited in the 2000s byblack Brazilian and dance-club culture, as well asBrazilian hip hop groups such as Soul Sisters.[14] Samba-rock culture has also faced debates surroundinggender equality. An advocacy project, "Samba Rock Mulheres" (English:"Samba Rock Women"), was created in response to the marginalization of women as supporting dancers to the predominantly male stars at dance events.[1]
In 2010, three figures associated with the samba-rock movement—dancer Jorge Yoshida, musician Marco Mattoli, and producer Nego Júnior—started agrassroots campaign to have samba rock registered as acultural heritage of São Paulo. The campaign eventually attracted the participation of various artists, musical groups, producers, political leaders, and citizens of São Paulo. In November 2016, the Municipal Council of Historic, Cultural and Environmental Preservation of the City of São Paulo (CONPRESP) finally declared samba rock a cultural heritage of the municipality.[10]
