Samba Is Described by Morales,

Samba is described by Morales, an expert of Latin music in the Latin Beat as an amalgamation of Afro-European culture that has become one of the many Brazilian points of pride and independent culture. (20) the history of Samba, can in some way be linked with Brazilian history and the importance of national identity and cultural competency, as the music was highly fortified by institutional and federal support in cultural education. (22) Though the music has more often been associated with various forms of civil unrest and been subverted officially, with raids of events and police action being taken against those who celebrate around samba. (25) Once greater tolerance for African customs and ritual religious performance art was achieved in Brazil there was an establishment of an infrastructure that celebrated and promulgated the genre to its local and then global heights, known as samba schools. (26)

The origins of the musical genre, and its name are not completely agreed upon, it is thought that the word Samba is an amalgam of the word, semba, a Bantu word meaning to pray or invoke the African gods and as a noun it was meant as something akin to "the blues" a cry or complaint. (Barad NP) the word was further expanded to be connected to the name of a Brazilian priestess, a Samba, who was at the center of a religious dance of a specific style and rhythm. Strangely the genre was then transferred back to Europe, by way of Portugal when the word, Samba, began to mean rhythm and the music was written about by a Portuguese missionary to Brazil, in 1838. From this point forward the genre was cultivated all over the world as a significant creation of social and political resistance to cultural cleansing that was created by colonial rule and immigration. (Barad NP)

Many attest to the fact that Samba's origins are highly debated but that it is linked to roots in African slaves imported to Brazil and the religious ceremonies they brought with them. The musical genre combines rhythmic percussion tempo with novel musical instruments such as the pandeiro, reco, tamborim and cuica, which give it a very distinct sound and feel. It is also, in modern context linked to the Brazilian Carnaval and has come to symbolize the rich diversity of the nation of Brazil, and racial harmony and tolerance. (Nkowane NP)

The music itself is a moving and frenzied cacophony of sound that envelopes the listener, and dance in much the same way that religious experiences do. What makes the music unique is its growth in popular culture and of coarse the encompassing manner that the specialized instruments and beats contribute to its strength and popularity as a genre. "The samba is a call to wild, mass movement, an orgy of percussion, not the structured rhythmic base for improvisation that came from the fusions of African rhythms and courtly European dances in Cuba.' (Morales 26) Samba has a following all over the world as an encompassing form of music with specialized instrumentation and rhythm that is infectious and frequently amalgamated with other forms of popular music to create even more diversity and development.

Charles Perrone, in Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Music discusses the vocal lyrics of the Brazilian music scene and describes the breadth and depth of Brazilian song writing. In this work he discusses another aspect of the music, its meaning and context, building on the idea of nationalism and universalities that are present in Samba and other forms of Brazilian popular music and culture (in this case looking at only 6 of the most popular lyricists and performers.) Perrone argues that Samba, though it has very few lyrics has tremendous social and political meaning, similar to reggae and that the lyrics associated with it are often reminiscent of personal turmoil and social growth. (Perrrone)

As a modern musical expression the Samba arrived in the international context in the early twentieth century in Rio de Janeiro. Samba, according to Morales, is descended from the lundu, a Bantu-Angolan style brought by Africans to Brazil during the peak of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but eventually internalized influences from ragtime (from New Orleans), habanera (from Cuba), and even German polka (through Mexico and German immigration)." (25)

Morales goes on to say that, Samba is mainly a percussive music played in a shuffling 2/4 rhythm, using several different kinds of drums, such as the surdo and the bateria," (25) and other percussive accessories (mentioned earlier).