As in a race of obstacles, samba traveled across bumpy paths until it was recognized by legitimization instances of the State as a national symbol. Throughout this process, the samba composers and interpreters of urban Rio samba played a decisive role. This article searches to clarify some hardly studied aspects of the marches and counter-marches which marked the history of samba and its passage from culturally marginal artifact to the bearer of Brazilian singularity in the musical field.
samba; Brazilian popular music; national symbols