Samba, popular Brazilian dance, celebrates 100 years

World Today

Samba, popular Brazilian dance, celebrates 100 years

Samba, Brazil’s most popular music and dance style, is celebrating its hundred year anniversary.

It’s known globally for its colorful, feathered outfits and upbeat rhythms during Carnival.

CCTV America’s Lucrecia Franco reports. Follow Lucrecia C. Franco on Twitter @LucreciaFranco

Every Sunday, musicians and locals gather to play, sing and dance Samba at the “Cacique de Ramos” headquarters, one of Rio’s most traditional carnival bands.

But this year, they are marking a milestone: one hundred years since the first Samba song, called “Pelo Telefone,” in English “By the telephone,” was recorded in Rio de Janeiro.

Bira, as the founder and president of the Cacique de Ramos said the centennial is a triumph for Brazil and for himself – he is a dance master.

Samba is believed to have arrived in Brazil some 300 years ago during the slave trade, but it was not widely accepted until the 20th century. In 2005, it was declared by UNESCO, a masterpiece of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

While samba dances to its hundredth birthday, it seems clear the party will continue for years to come a joyous source of Brazilian national pride.