Samba-canção is, in its most common acceptance or interpretation, the denomination for a kind of Brazilian popular songs with some sort of samba rhythm.
History
It appeared after the World War II, at the end of the 1940s, and practically disappeared in the middle of the 1960s when majority of composers began to present their songs without category denomination. The name is somewhat arbitrary, adopted by the music industry, that is, publishers and record companies, and some composers. Like many popular songs of the world, Samba-canção 's principal theme is the love relationship, typically moaning for a lost love. Tempo is moderate or a little slower. The denomination suggests that the song is more sophisticated, less earthy, than ordinary samba songs.
Composition
It has, in most cases, two parts. They are repeated totally. Almost always it has a small introduction and sometimes short additional ending. Frequently in the repetition, the first part is played by musicians and the second sung. The musical accompaniment can be anything, from piano solo or guitar duet to jazz-style big band or philharmonic orchestra. In these cases, samba rhythm was provided mainly by a drum player. It always maintained Brazilian flavor, more or less, but strongly influenced by American popular songs in every way. Some were influenced by Argentine-Uruguayan tango and Cuban-Mexican bolero. Under the denomination 'Samba-canção' there has been many hit tunes and several of them has got the 'classic' or 'standard' status in the history of Brazilian popular music. But the name is obsolete nowadays. Because the public preferred to call them only samba and today they are just a part of MPB.
Popular songs
The most renowned tunes published officially with the denomination 'samba-canção' are as follows.
Year 1945 - Dora
46 - Saia do caminho - Copacabana
47 - Marina / Nervos do aço
48 - Caminhemos Also well known afterward by a Spanish-language version with the rhythm of bolero.
50 - Errei sim
51 - Vingança Also well known afterward by a Spanish-language version with the rhythm of tango.
52 - Ninguém me ama - Risque Originally performed as 'fado'. Also well known afterward by a Spanish-language version with the rhythm of bolero.
55 - Folha morta / Duas contas
56 - Só louco / Resposta /
57 - Ouça / Por causa de você / Se todos fossem iguais a você
58 - Estrada do sol / Meu mundo caiu
59 - A noite do meu bem / Dindi / Eu sei que vou te amar
Other forms
There had been another kind of Samba-canção. In the 1930s, 'samba-canção' was the denomination applied to some sentimental tunes written for musical reviews. They were not many. Some representative sambas-canções of this kind are: No rancho fundo, Na batucada da vida and Serra da Boa Esperança.
Referring to the "first" samba-canção of this kind, Paulo Tapajós wrote in a LP jacket:
Henrique Vogeler was a composer-pianist with solid musical education, studied at the National Conservatory, but best known as the composer of popular tunes, and wrote this "first" Samba-canção as an opening number of a review. The above-mentioned LP contains some oldies, one Cartola composition and contemporary songs usually associated with bossa nova style.
