Brazilian Samba & Bossa Nova

"I heard a bunch of Samba yesterday and I really liked it. We heard it on the city bus on the way to zone conference. They have some other musical styles that I really like too."

Brazil is the birth place of the Samba. Much of the music in the heavily populated coastal areas shows a remarkable combination of African, Native Indian, and Iberian influences. Modern Samba was developed from an earlier Brazilian musical style called Choro. Both Samba the dance and music can take many forms, from the vivacious call response of samba de enredo, the music of Carnaval to samba-cancon or song samba, a more relaxed guitar and rhythm variant. Bossa Nova, which translates to New Wave, hit America big time in the Sixties with "The Girl From Ipanema". This song by the legendary composer Antonio Carlos Jobim became a classic in jazz and elevator music.

Listen to the Bossa Nova hit Aganju by Bebel Gilberto.