Are 'Christian' and 'samba' mutually exclusive?

As far as I have been able to tell, there are two distinct types of Samba. There is the old, or tratitional Samba, and there is the modern Samba. The traditional Samba emphasized intricate rhythms and harmonies, as well as dances that focused on “fancy footwork”. The themes were mostly about love or the carefree attitude of life in Rio de Janeiro.

Modern Samba is quite different. The emphasis is on the driving rhythm with a dominant and repeated melody, with little thought to harmony. Instead of the feet, the emphasis on the dance is to the…um…pelvic region. Also, the garb of the female dancers has been significantly reduced.

For an interesting look at the old Samba style, check out the classic Disney flick “The Three Caballeros” and watch the section on Brazil. I think this is on YouTube. For examples of modern Samba…well…I actually recommend that you NOT look at modern Samba.

Finding any redeeming factor for Samba here in Brazil would be a challenge indeed. As can be seen in the YouTube video mentioned in the article, the artists have taken away the scantily-clad dancers and physical gyrations, with the end result that the Samba has been left with nothing. They didn’t even represent the musical stylings that well. While it may be theoretically possible to pull some of the complex rhythmic and harmonic patterns from traditional Samba, even that style has been tarnished by the debauchery of Carnaval.

There are some great musical styles which I believe CAN be redeemed (and I might get myself in trouble here…). Chorinho is a great style that can exist apart from any immorality, as is Brazilian Sertanejo (kind of like country but emphasizing a beautiful two-part harmony), and some of the stylings of MPB (música popular brasileira) are fantastic.

[Andrew Comings] As far as I have been able to tell, there are two distinct types of Samba. There is the old, or tratitional Samba, and there is the modern Samba. The traditional Samba emphasized intricate rhythms and harmonies, as well as dances that focused on “fancy footwork”. The themes were mostly about love or the carefree attitude of life in Rio de Janeiro.

Modern Samba is quite different. The emphasis is on the driving rhythm with a dominant and repeated melody, with little thought to harmony. Instead of the feet, the emphasis on the dance is to the…um…pelvic region. Also, the garb of the female dancers has been significantly reduced.

Our experience is with traditional samba. My wife and I have done ballroom dancing since about 1995. We do a little Samba. Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oil do the Samba (the samba box step) when they dance in the old black and white cartoons.

The traditional samba is a good dance, though it tires you out fast (about like a polka). Actually, you can interchange Samba and polka steps, since the rhythm is the same count. You might think of traditional samba as a Latin polka!

Our dance club is very modest, and a number of participants are Christians. But when you start getting to the competitors, etc., some of their costumes can be risque. We just dance for a great “make your own fun” evening and to add to the romance of our marriage.

Good things can easily be corrupted, and drawing the line of modest vs. immodest is far from an exact science, though it is usually easy to tell when one is way over the line, even if you can’t pinpoint the line.

I personally think all styles of music can be used to praise the Lord, and that any style of music can be taken to unhealthy extremes by the deportment of the singers, if nothing else.

Ed,

I thought I was going out on a limb by admitting that I enjoyed certain styles of music native to the country where I serve. You actually dance—the Samba!!! When I was in college the joke was that you knew you were a fundamentalist if you were opposed to pre-marital sex because it might lead to dancing. Guess you prove that is not actually the case.

My brother and his wife took ballroom dancing and quite enjoyed it. I would be afraid to do the same thing—mostly out of fear of making a total fool of myself and embarrassing my Brazilian wife, who has inherited all the natural grace and rhythm of her gene pool.

[Andrew Comings] Ed,

I thought I was going out on a limb by admitting that I enjoyed certain styles of music native to the country where I serve. You actually dance—the Samba!!! When I was in college the joke was that you knew you were a fundamentalist if you were opposed to pre-marital sex because it might lead to dancing. Guess you prove that is not actually the case.

My brother and his wife took ballroom dancing and quite enjoyed it. I would be afraid to do the same thing—mostly out of fear of making a total fool of myself and embarrassing my Brazilian wife, who has inherited all the natural grace and rhythm of her gene pool.

Oh, you are missing so much — go for it. You can start taking lessons at home. See if your library has DVDs or tapes. Or you can buy them inexpensively off the net. I am a total clutz (last one picked for the softball team), but, if you take it slow and keep practicing, that’s the secret. Then you should be able to find a place to take lessons inexpensively.

We go dancing about once a month (we used to make it twice) and have done so since 1995. It is a great marriage builder.

We even go so far as to teach dance lessons and hold a semi-formal banquet for our youth last summer. We have a whole set of pictures posted on Facebook — and, right now, in our church foyer. We are not your typical fundamentalists!

[Ed Vasicek] We are not your typical fundamentalists!

I should say not! Thanks for the tips.