19^th century

In the 19th century, the Brazilian music scene was divided:

The white upper class listened to European music styles and also played them, they danced to polkas, minuets and waltzes whereas the coloured population, slaves and former slaves which had been bought out, practiced African and Afro-Brazilian music and dance, summarized under the name Batuque. As time passed, the music changed. Especially through professional black musicians who played in orchestras, the elements of the different music cultures started to mix. The rhythms became more syncopated, the whole way of playing generally changed and the dances and lyrics became more sensual.

With the abolition of the slavery in 1888, many black people moved to the former capital Rio de Janeiro and to São Paulo where there was more work than in in the Northeast. With this movement, the musical center of the country which before was in Bahia, was dislocated to Rio de Janeiro. This is why with the turn of the 19th and the 20th century, new Brazilian music styles like the Lundu, the Modinha and the Maxixe originated as the predecessors of Samba. The former slaves who came searching for work, built their own neighbourhoods close to the port, where many of them had found jobs and in the suburbs of the town where the first favela districts developed. In the Cidade Nova, the socalled 'little Africa', where the Sambodromo stands today, many modern music styles were born. 

20^th century

Being a sambista was strictly forbidden and even punished by prison sentence until the 1920s / 1930s.

But even those threats could not impede the development of this music. People continued to play Samba secretly, mostly Samba de Roda, just a few people sitting around a table singing and playing percussion, guitar and cavaquinho, while all the others sang and danced to it. This mainly took place in the houses of the 'tias', elderly Afro-Brazilian women priests who had moved from Bahia to Rio. Samba was forbidden, but the religious ceremonies of Candomblé were allowed, and so the tías went to ask permission for their religious festivities and before and after Samba was played. This was for example the origin of the first official Samba 'Pelo Telefone'. It was recorded in 1917 during one of famous Tia Ciata´s parties in her house at Praça 11.

Samba - a national culture good

The prosecution ended with the movement of national culture goods and -identity, when black Samba was discovered in the 1930s and declared typical Brazilian culture, also because society wanted to unleash itself culturally from its former colonist Portugal. The samba ban was undone and the new music style was played in the then still emerging radio. This was the beginning of how black resp. mixed music culture was brought to the center of society´s attention, were it still is today.


The first Samba school 'Deixa Falar'

Of course carnival existed long before the first Samba schools were founded. The Portuguese had brought over this catholic tradition. Above all, the white middle- and upper class enjoyed the entertainment of the Entrudo and the parades of the ranchos and sociedades. In the 1920s, the poor population also started to want to parade through the city just like the rich and celebrate their own carnival. This is how the Samba schools came into existance. Alike the other forms of Samba, the development started in the favelas  of Zona Norte, the northern part of the city. In 1928, the first Samba School was founded in the culturally very active neighbourhood Estácio: 'Deixa Falar' - 'let them talk'. Of course the desfiles had completely different dimensions in those times. The bateria of 'Deixa Falar' consisted in 'tamborins, buttercans, cuicas and pandeiros' (1). Shortly afterwards, surdos were introduced, and in the 1930s the baterias played e.g. with 3 surdos, a tarol, a tamborim, a pandeiro, a cuica, some chocalhos, a reco-reco and a prato e faca (plate with knife). Alltogether the baterias then had between 25 and 30 percussionists and the whole Samba school had about 350-400 participating members, all singing along merrily and at full volume as of course nobody had microphones. 'Deixa Falar' disbanded shortly after, yet the cornerstone for the new carnival by the Afro-Brazilian population was laid.

1) Magazin História do samba, Rio de Janeiro, Editora Globo, S.A..1997. chapter 4, S. 61

21^st century

Samba schools today:

Today those dimensions have defenitively changed: A large Samba school has 4000-5000 active sambistas, of which 250-300 ritmistas play in the bateria. Samba schools are professtional organizations, where many people actually work full-time in order to hopefully win the carnival competition. Apart from Samba there are various other activities like sport, health- and social projects, especially for the population of the surrounding neighbourhoods and their favelas. But Samba naturally is key issue. Just like in football there are different leagues (2) to which the schools rise or descend to, alltogether about 70-80 Samba schools just in Rio. The play in leagues from Grupo Especial down to Grupo E. The large schools parade in the Sambódromo in the Avenida Marquês de Sapucaí (which is why it is often called the Sapucaí), officially Passarela Professor Darcy Ribeiro. The Sapucaí was especially built for the carnival of the Samba schools in 1984 by the famous architect Oscar Niemeyer. An audience of more than 72.000 people can watch the 700m long parade of the Samba schools with perfect light- and sound conditions.


2) The different 'leagues' of Samba schools:

• Grupo Especial with currently 12 schools
• Grupo de Acesso (currently ca. 20 schools)
• Grupos B (14) to E (8) in the suburbs