Rio Samba

Uh-oh. Rio… samba, sun and Olympic Games spring to mind. Something tawdry, perhaps, to cash in on the hullabaloo. Not at all. A sister volume to Rio Bossa, this very worthwhile compilation from Le Chant du Monde celebrates what has become not just a genre forever synonymous with Rio de Janeiro, but also a symbol of Brazil itself.

The three discs span a timescale from 1949 to 1962: a period when the success of the national football team would put Brazil firmly on the global map. The first CD concentrates on the sub-genre of samba canção (song samba), interspersed with explosive blasts of the kind of samba associated with Carnaval, all call-and-response vocals and thundering drums. With more brass and strings added to the mix, the second CD spotlights a more sophisticated samba that segued, as we hear on the final, fascinating CD, into bossa nova – the ‘new wave’ that would for several years sweep across the world.

Luminaries major and minor, like Dori Caymmi, Tom Jobim, Baden Powell, João Gilberto, Os Cariocas, Herivelto Martins and Ataulfo Alves are all represented. But the complete absence of any historical or biographical information is really frustrating. Some kind of informative booklet would have added considerable value. Musically, however, this is a lovely and surprisingly varied overview.