SAMBA BRAZIL ART AND CULTURE

The Brazilian culture owes its origin to the Portuguese who invaded the country long back and established their supremacy over the land. With them they imbibed the Roman Catholic faith among the common general masses of Brazil, which still continues to exert dominant influence over the Brazilian populace. Also with the passage of time, other tribes and religious groups asserted their control over the natives of the land as the Amerindian's significantly molded Brazil's language, music, cuisine and religion. The Yoruba's from Southwestern part of Nigeria made its strong inroads into the traditional Brazilian religion. European countries as Italy and Germany also left behind strokes of western effect on the Brazilian art and culture. But towards the last half of 20th century, the cultural scenario of Brazil underwent a sea change with the intermingling of various foreign cultures especially in the field of cinema and modern art. The inter caste marriages of Portuguese with Indians, the invasions by the Dutch and French, the Spanish rule and later the immigration of Italians, Germans and Japanese to this land widely contributed to the growth of ethnicity of Brazil's culture.

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.