Etymology Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese samba, from a Bantu language. Doublet of semba.
1
Dance, Dancing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A Brazilian ballroom dance or dance style.
2
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A Brazilian musical genre, to which the aforementioned dance is danced, which has its roots in West Africa via the slave trade.
And when the samba played, the sun would set so high / Ring through my ears and sting my eyes, your Spanish lullaby1986, “La Isla Bonita”, in True Blue, performed by Madonna:
They thought of, I don’t know, monkeys and caipirinhas and samba.”2007 September 20, Eric Wilson, “Blame It on Rio and Gisele”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2020:
1 more example
Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888; until then, Bahia had been a major hub of the country’s slave trade. Samba started there for a reason—a fact that Veloso has returned to, obsessively, throughout his career. […] “A samba parade had turned into a brawl,” a reviewer wrote in the Times, adding that the music “suggested a more cool-headed, grown-up epilogue to the shocks of Tropicália.”2022 February 7, Jonathan Blitzer, “How Caetano Veloso Revolutionized Brazil’s Sound and Spirit”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2022:
Etymology Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese samba, from a Bantu language. Doublet of semba.
1
To dance the samba.
In front of an audience, he tends to have a freer conversation with himself. The right conditions turn him into an extrovert. He sambas, in the Santo Amaro style.2022 February 7, Jonathan Blitzer, “How Caetano Veloso Revolutionized Brazil’s Sound and Spirit”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2022: