Samba-canção

Samba-canção (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɐ̃bɐ kɐ̃ˈsɐ̃w]) (literally 'samba song') is, in its most common acceptance or interpretation, the denomination for a kind of Brazilian popular songs with some sort of samba rhythm. 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 (plural 'sambas-canções')'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.

It has, in most cases, two parts. They are repeated totally. Almost always it has a small introduction (no lyrics here) and sometimes short additional ending (coda). 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 But the name is obsolete nowadays.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.
The most renowned tunes published officially with the denomination 'samba-canção' are as follows.

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 (1931, lyrics and music by Ary Barroso and Lamartine Babo), Na batucada da vida (1934, Ary Barroso and Luiz Peixoto") and Serra da Boa Esperança (1937, Lamartine Babo).
Referring to the "first" samba-canção of this kind, Paulo Tapajós wrote in a LP jacket:

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