Samba
A Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro. It has roots in the cultural expression of West Africa and in Brazilian folk traditions, especially those linked to the primitive rural samba of the colonial and imperial periods.
The 1920s brought a new percussive instrumental pattern and a more batucada (repetitive, fast-paced) and syncopated style (as opposed to the original samba-maxixe) notably characterized by a faster tempo, longer notes, and a more complex cadence.
Samba is predominantly in 2/4 time, varied with the conscious use of a sung chorus to a batucada rhythm, with various stanzas of declaratory verses. Its traditional instrumentation is composed of percussion instruments—such as the pandeiro (hand frame drum), cuica (friction drum), tamborim (Brazilian tambourine), ganzá (rattle), and surdo (bass drum) as accompaniment derived from choro—combined with classical guitar and cavaquinho (small guitar with 4 strings). 1830s– .