Samba. The best known genre of Brazilian music, the samba has spawned a host of sub-genres, including hill samba, break samba, verse samba, handkerchief samba, and many others. A music of the Carnival season in Rio de Janeiro, the samba is a choral music with instrumental accompaniment or percussion accompaniment. The origin of the word samba comes from the African Bantu language known as Quimbundo. The term semba or belly bump in that language refers to a distinctive feature of an African dance.
Genre Guide 2000 · World/Folk › South/Central American