Samba isn’t just one style of music. It’s a wide range of different music and dance forms. Some styles, like the Samba-Reggae, which was started in El Salvador from Bahia during the 1980, is recognized as its own form of music.

Originally, Samba was a mixture of rhythms from the West African slaves combined with Indian and Portuguese music. The complicated rhythms can be partly retraced to the trance-music of the Candomblè-Kulte. Also, elements of Angolan Semba were introduced and were combined with bohemian Polka.

In 1917, Samba wasn’t defined as its own music genre in Rio by Maxixe and Marcha. The Samba-de-roda, which means “Samba in a circle”, is used by the Recòncavo as a term for samba. This is probably the most original form of Samba. The typical way of performing this style is dancing or singing. Instruments aren’t necessary.

Normally, Samba has a 2/4 beat with interlocking, syncopated lines of melody. The easiest Samba pattern is a rhythm produced by clapping, which was performed by slaves and is still used in Bahia.

Samba can range from small ensembles like Pagode and Rodas, to large orchestras known as Gafieira, to the gigantic Escolas de samba in Rio.