The First Case of the Samba Seduction

I am excited for this week's show... my first time filling 2 hours with nothing but samba from Brazil.

Samba is, at its roots, a very basic 1 - 2 percussion signature. But the musically diverse Brazilians have spun out that basic rhythm into hundreds of individually identifiable strains of samba, from neighborhood escola ballads to jazzy bossa, from sappy romantic exports to frenetic carnaval drum lines. Sadly, I cannot point to a single great compilation of samba music, even including Brazilian comps! There are so many flavors of samba, it can be hard to focus in and identify the kinds of samba sounds you really want to hear. 

So I'm doing it for you.

Today we start with one hour of rootsy samba tunes, ranging from old-timey ballads to favela shouts to swanky uptown snazz. In the second hour today I will feature MPB samba; that is, "pop" music samba of the seventies. From clubby stormers to smooth grooves, we'll hear what turned on Brazilian parties in the age of superfly.