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{{Short description|Brazilian dance}}
:''] is also the name of a 1990 movie.''
{{Other uses}}
----
] in 2009]]
'''Lambada''' is a ] which became internationally popular in the 1980s. The exact origin of the dance is somewhat disputed but its known to have begun in ] and has forerunners such as the ], ], the ], and the ]. Some also say it began in ], a thought due to the song named Lambada which is actually an unauthorised translation of the song ''"Llorando se fue"'', from the ]n group ]. ], a French group, recorded this number one worldwide ] ''"Lambada"'' which sold 5 million singles in ] (see ] article for more about the translation of this song).
'''Lambada''' ({{Audio|Br-Lambada.ogg|pronunciation}}) is a dance from the state of ] in ]. The dance briefly became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the ], ] and ]. It has adopted aspects of dances such as ], ], ], ] and ].


Lambada is generally a ]. The dancers generally dance with arched legs, with the steps being from side to side, turning or even swaying, and in its original form never front to back, with a pronounced movement of the hips. At the time when the dance became popular, short skirts for women were in fashion and men wore long trousers, and the dance has become associated with such clothing, especially for women wearing short skirts that swirl up when the woman spins around, typically revealing 90s-style ] underwear.
The association of Lambada and Dirty Dancing/Forbidden Dance became quite extensive, mostly due to the 1990 movie ], although the people who dance this rhythm in Brazil and everywhere else preffer to define it as a sensual and romantic dance rather than erotic.


==Origins==
After 1994 the Brazilian music style (also called Lambada), which gave birth to the dance, started to fade away, and the dancers began to use other musical sources to continue practicing the Lambada dance. Among these rhythms were the ] (such as from the ]) and some ]ian music. Today the majority of Lambada is danced to ] music (more specifically Zouk love) and the dance evolved so much from its original form that there is an ongoing discussion whether or not the Zouk-Lambada is a new type of dance or just the natural evolution of the Lambada of the early 90's.


===''Maxixe''===
The Zouk-Lambada style is still very popular in many countries such as Brazil, UK, Holland, Denmark, USA, Japan and Australia.
{{main|Maxixe (dance)}}
The association of Lambada and the idea of 'dirty dancing' became quite extensive. The appellative "forbidden dance" was and is often ascribed to the Lambada. This was largely due to its links to Maxixe, a dance of the early 1920s, because of its spicy lyrics and close contact with the dance partner. This idea was further perpetuated by the 1990 movies '']'' and '']'', and the short skirts, typical to the Lambada dance, that were in fashion around 1988.


Lambada has many links with Maxixe and also with Forro. They have many figures in common. For example:
==The History of Lambada==
*''Balão apagado'', a figure in which the lady rotates her head while it hangs loose.
*''Peão'' (also called ''boneca'' or ''toy doll''), a figure in which the lady swings her head from side to side.


===The Origin=== ===''Carimbó''===
{{main|Carimbó}}
Since the time Brazil was a Portuguese colony (between year 1500 a.d. and 1822 a.d.) the Carimbó has been a popular dance in the north part of the country. It was a loose and very sensual dance in which the woman tried to cover the man with many spins and rounded skirts. The music was played mainly among beats of drums made of trunks of wood, thinned by fire.
From the time that Brazil was a Portuguese colony, ] was a common dance in the northern part of the country. Carimbó was a loose and very sensual dance which involved many spins by the female dancer, who typically wore a rounded skirt. The music was mainly to the beat of drums made of trunks of wood, thinned by fire.


Carimbó involved only side to side movements and many spins and hip movement, which has influenced lambada movements.
As time passed by the dance changed, as did the music itself, gaining many influences from the Caribbean music due to its geographical proximity which also generated some new rhythms like the Sirimbó and the Lari Lari, changing forever the way the original Carimbó was danced.


===The name and the father=== ===Etymology===
During the late XX century, local radio stations from Belém do Pará (a capital city of one of Brazil's northern and oldest states) started to call these type of music as "strong beated rhythms" and "rhythms of Lambada" (Lambada is another word in local language for a strong hit). This name "Lambada" had a strong appeal and began to be associated with this new emerging face of an old dancing style. After a while, a local radio station from ] (]'s capital city) started to call this new type of music "the strong-beated rhythm" and "the rhythms of ''lambada''". The term "lambada" had a strong appeal and began to be associated with the new emerging face of an old dancing style.<ref name=latinnetuk> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922190634/http://www.latinnet.co.uk/History/Lambada.htm |date=2007-09-22 }}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=December 2017}}


The word ''lambada'' means "strong slap" or "hit" in Portuguese. However, as a dance form, ''lambada'' is of obscure etymology. In Portuguese it may refer to the wave-like motion of a whip. This flowing wave motion is reproduced by the dancers' bodies, and is one of the main elements that distinguish Lambada from other Latin dances.<ref name=lambadamecrazy> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827025844/http://www.lambadamecrazy.co.uk/lambadahistory/4515948863 |date=2007-08-27 }}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=December 2017}}
By 1983 the Carimbó dance began once more to be danced in couples, in a 2-beat style, something very similar to the Merengue, but with the addition of many spins and some authors relate to have experienced this kind of dance in Belém and Macapá (another capital city in the north of Brazil). By that time a local brazilian singer called Pinduca published a long-play record with this kind of music and for this it is strongly believed he is the true father of Lambada, although he never got to be known anywhere else.


===Two-beat dance style===
The fusion between the metallic and electronic music from Caribean brought again a new face to the Carimbó, which started to be played throughout the north-eastern region of Brazil (a place well known for its touristic appeal), and so this new Carimbó travelled with a new name of Lambada.
Around 1983, the Carimbó dance started again to be danced in couples, in a 2-beat style, something very close to ], but with more spins.


===Music===
===The Lambada from Bahia - the first Boom===
''Aurino Quirino Gonçalves'', or simply '''Pinduca''', is a Brazilian musician and singer in the state of ], Brazil, where it is strongly believed he is the true father of the lambada music.
As the Lambada traveled through and down the north-eas coast of Brazil reaching Bahia, it began receiving some influences from the Forró (a dance very popular in those regions), until it finally became a 4-beated dancing style, which was definitively different from the original Carimbó.


Pinduca is a musician and composer of mainly Carimbó. He is the singer and composer of the "King of Carimbó" (as it is affectionately known) and he created rhythms, such as: Sirimbó, Lári-Lári, Lambada and Lamgode. In 1976, he launched a song entitled ''Lambada (Sambão)'', track number 6 of the LP ''No embalo of carimbó and sirimbó vol. 5.'' It is the first Brazilian recording of a song under the label of ''Lambada''.
The way of dancing this Lambada was with arched legs, and the steps were done from one side to the other, and never from front to back. This was also the time in which the tight skirts were in fashion, and both things (the dance and the fashion) got much close to one another. Today at some places like the Lambar (a night club in Sao Paulo) this icon of a girl in a high and short skirt dancing with a man in long loose trousers still maintain its appeal on an outdoor.


Some support the version that the guitarist and composer Master Vieira, the inventor of the ''guitarrada'', would also be the creator of the Lambada music. His first official disc, ''Lambada of Quebradas'', was recorded in 1976 but officially launched two years later, in 1978.<ref name=ptwikipedia>]</ref>
During these years the Carnival of Bahia was increasing in popularity and every summer a new kind of dance showed up, and would disappear during the following year when another dancing style and rhythm would surge on the following summer. Such was the case a few years before the Lambada with the Fricote and the Ti-Ti-Ti that truly disappeared.


In the late 1980s, the fusion between the metallic and electronic music from Caribbean brought again a new face to the Carimbó. This style started to be played throughout north-eastern Brazil (a place well known for its tourist approach), although this new Carimbó went with the name of ''Lambada''.
Along with the "Trio-eletricos" (Big mobile band trucks covered with speakers all around) playing the songs everywhere in Salvador, the Lambada music and dance started to become very popular in Bahia, and established itself in the city of Porto Seguro. Still, in this first boom of the Lambada, the south-east region of Brazil (the country's economic centre) despised the rhythms which came from Bahia on a regular basis and most Lambada songs remained restricted to the North-east of the country.


==Bahia==
By that time, although it has been recognized as huge summer-fever success, the Lambada was far away from having its true world-wide success. Many of first lambaterias (a place to dance Lambada) which opened by 1988 couldn't stand the low season and closed a few months later.


===The Forbidden Dance=== ===Four-beat dance style===
The Lambada spread along the coast until it reached ] (the elder Brazilian state) where it was influenced by the ], an old Brazilian style of dance which also had a strong beat. It became a four-beat dancing style, which was distinctive from the original Carimbó.
Its from these years (circa 1988) that came the first tale about Lambada - the forbidden dance. With its roots on Forró and Carimbó and several other northern-brazilian dancing styles at a certain stage Lambada was compared to the Maxixe, a dancing style that back in 1930 was the true forbidden dance because of its spicy lyric songs and its movements.


Although the music of lambada began in ], the dance of Lambada did not gain a recognizable form until the music reached Porto Seguro in Bahia. In Pará, people moved to what was then a new beat by adapting dance styles that were familiar at that time such as forró, cumbia, carimbó, maxixe and merengue. But it was in the Boca da Barra beach cabana that the dance of lambada began to acquire a specific form - first as a very simple stepping in place in a close partner embrace, and quickly becoming more and more complex. Leaders in that community included the brothers Braz and Didi Dos Santos and Rebeca Lang, who won many lambada competitions and created steps that are still danced today in all Lambada styles.
At its peak, and perhaps made on purpose to create even more exposure on the media, Lambada was advertised as an erotic and pornographic dance, when at best it was just a sensual way of dancing. This trend of labeling erotic dances from Bahia followed on in further years with some other quite sexual referenced dances such as the "dança da garrafa" and reached its peak with the Axe movement in the late 1990s.


]
===The International Beat===
While the Lambada was being buried at winter in Brazil, some entrepeneurs at Europe found other plans for it.
At the end of that very summer, a couple of French business man came to Brazil and bought the musical rights of something like 300 lambada musics. They then returned to France, founded the Kaoma Band, boosting it up with some serious Marketing dollars, and turned Lambada into a world-wide known music style, reaching even the far east corner of the world such as Japan.


This form of Lambada was danced with arched legs, with the steps being from one side to the other, and never from front to back. At the time short skirts for girls were in fashion and men wore long trousers, and the dance became especially associated with girls wearing short skirts. This association has continued until today, and the tradition is common in some places, such as the Lambar night club of ].
===The Second Boom===
The Lambada world phenomenon was so strong that something almost unbelievable happened: the music returned to Brazil as a foreign music style, reaching the more economically evolved south-east region of Brazil. Some people reckon this re-insertion of Lambada has changed the way the young brazilian couples were dancing in the 1990s. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that around that time, after more than 30 years since the Beatles, young couples started to dance together once again. Hundreds of Brazilian style ballroom dancing schools were re-opened.


===Carnival===
This second Lambada wave was a much bigger success and left strong imprints in the Brazilian culture and in the minds and hearts of the young people who by that time were between 15 to 30 year old. At that stage the Lambada became as internationally known as the Samba was.
{{main|Bahian Carnival}}
During the 1980s, the Carnival in Bahia was growing in popularity, and every summer a new kind of dance arose, only to disappear during the year after the tourists had left, with another dancing style and rhythm arising the following summer. A few years before the Lambada, there was the ''Fricote'' and the ''Ti-Ti-Ti'' among others dances, all of which disappeared never to be remembered again.


Among with the "Trio-eletricos" (big movable trucks covered with speakers, on top of which musicians would play during the ]), in 1988 the Lambada started to become popular in Bahia, and established itself in the city of ]. Still, in this first boom of the Lambada, the economically developed south-east region of Brazil despised the various rhythms which came from Bahia on a regular basis, and which were believed to be only summer hits.
===The Dance changes===
With world-wide and national repercussion the dance started to evolve.
On its origins (circa 1988), an early Lambada dancing contest took place at "Lambateria UM" had as a basic rule the contestants were to be eliminated if ever they ever became separated during the dance.


Although it was recognized as a summer hit, the Lambada was not yet a true worldwide success. Many of the first ''lambaterias'' (a place to dance Lambada) which opened in 1988 couldn't survive the low tourism of the winter season, and closed a few months later.
During the second boom, the strong demand for dancers in films and shows brought the experinece of many professional dancers and started changing the way the Lambada was danced. Jive style turns were added and also some acrobatic movements were incorporated. It is from this era that the Cambre (a bend from the waist to the side or to the back coming from ballet) was incorporated.


==Musicians==
Along with the Lambada music playing in every radio station, many musicians coming from various other pop-styles like Fafa de Belem and Sydney Magal followed the trend and recorded several songs that became well known hits and from time to time still find their way on the dance floor today.
Prior to Kaoma's 1989 plagiarism of the ] song "]", dozens of groups and several singers had already performed the song using a dance rhythm, such as in 1984<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013054328/http://armonia10depiura.blogspot.com/p/biografia.html |date=2016-10-13 }}. Rosita Producciones radionuevaq.com.pe</ref> with Cuarteto Continental, Sexteto Internacional,<ref> lima.cuandodonde.com</ref><ref> Biography. 10-31-2006.</ref> and Puerto Rican singer ].<ref> at Amazon.com</ref><ref> wilkinsmusic.com (Official Site)</ref> Argentine singer Juan "Corazón" Ramón in 1985<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423150620/http://www.juanramonfans.com.ar/biografia.htm |date=2011-04-23 }} juanramonfans.com.ar</ref> and Brazilian singer-songwriter Márcia Ferreira, who wrote the translation in Portuguese as "Chorando se foi", in 1986<ref name=marcia /> were also widely successful with their covers. Other popular dance music groups, Tropicalisimo Apache from Mexico<ref>Album: ''Exitos quemantes'' by Tropicalisimo Apache. Published by Mercury Latino, 1988.</ref> and ] from the ]<ref>Diaz, Carlos.{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. elsoldelasamericas.com. 10-16-2010.</ref> covered the song in 1988. The song continues to be covered to this day; for example: Pastor López, Beto Barbosa, Manezinho do Sax, while others were increasing their careers, as was the case with Sidney Magal, ], ] and the group ].


===Kaoma's song "Lambada"===
===Hunting for a new rhythm: the decline of the lambada music===
{{main|Lambada (song)}}
After these up's & down's the Lambada composers started to fade away and people like Beto Barbosa were never again to be heard of. The dance lost a lot of its strength and appeal and hordes of dancers migrated to other more traditional brazilian dancing styles. Others still very resistant dancers started to seek other music styles such as the Socca, Kompa and Zouk (Caribeen music styles) to keep on dancing the Lambada moves.
In 1988, French entrepreneur, Olivier Lamotte d'Incamps (aka Olivier Lorsac), visited ], Brazil and discovered locals dancing the tightly ] lambada to a melody that turned out to be Bolivian.<ref name="The Originals">{{cite web |url=http://www.originals.be/en/originals.php?id=3760 |title=Llorando se fue |publisher=The Originals |last=Rypens |first=Arnold |access-date=May 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306122808/http://www.originals.be/en/originals.php?id=3760|archive-date=2016-03-06}}</ref> D'Incamps became involved in the lambada ], largely by promoting a European tour of ], a band formed with several musicians from the Senegalese group ]. To display the dance in Europe, he chose a team of the best dancers at the Boca Da Barra (a dance cabana on the beach in Porto Seguro where lambada dancers refined and developed the style and form of the dance). Most notable among these young dancers chosen for the Kaoma company was Braz Dos Santos, who has become the most celebrated lambada dancer in the world today (recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award's "World’s Best LambaZouk Performer" at the Los Angeles Zouk Festival),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://americanlambada.org/patrons-history|title=Our Patron's History: Awards|publisher=American Lambada Organization}}</ref> and his brother Didi Dos Santos. After Olivier Lamotte d'Incamps bought the musical rights to over 400 lambada songs with ],<ref>{{cite news|title=RECORDINGS; World Beat Has Become An Industry|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/21/arts/recordings-world-beat-has-become-an-industry.html|date= January 21, 1990|work=The New York Times|first=Milo|last=Miles}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Música brasileira : a history of popular music and the people of Brazil|url=https://archive.org/details/msicabrasileir00schr/page/225/mode/2up|first=Claus|last=Schreiner|year=1993|page=225|publisher=Marion Boyars |isbn=9780714529462 }}</ref> he took the dancers back to France and created the Kaoma band. They were part of lambada's worldwide known style, reaching all the way to Japan and Vietnam, where the dance is still popular.


The French group Kaoma recorded a number one worldwide summer hit "]", sung in ] by Loalwa Braz, which sold 5 million singles in 1989. The song peaked at #46 in the United States in 1990 on the ] chart. In Portuguese, the "Lambada" song is called "Chorando se foi", meaning ''In tears they went''.
Other music styles were also incorporated such as the Flamenco Rumba from Gypsy Kings and some Arabic songs.
By the end of the 1990s the dance recovered most of its original way and style, with less acrobatic moves, more smoother, intimate and closer contact between the partners.


In the music video, there were two young children, named ], performing the lambada dance. They shortly thereafter started their own musical career. Other music videos featured Loalwa Braz, Braz Dos Santos, Didi Dos Santos, and other dancers from the Kaoma European Tour. These videos were broadcast extensively worldwide and, capturing the imagination of audiences who were attracted to the sight of beautiful young people dancing sensuously in the sun, greatly boosted music sales.
Nowadays many teachers and dancers are using the term Zouk-Lambada or simply Zouk to refer to the Lambada dance, and there's an ongoing discussion on several brazilian dancing forums of whether these are actually two different kind of dances.


The "Lambada" song was actually an unauthorized translation of the 1981 song "]" (meaning: ''In tears he/she left''), by the ]n group ]. Also, the dance arrangements were an identical cover from the version of "Llorando se fue" recorded by the Peruvian group Cuarteto Continental and produced by Alberto Maravi.<ref>{{self-published source|date=December 2017}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=December 2017}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lpv25quOSnwC&q=cuarteto+continental+lambada+perou&pg=PA30 |title=The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond |isbn=9780786730209 |access-date=2016-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214220037/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lpv25quOSnwC |archive-date=2017-02-14 |url-status=dead |last1=Morales |first1=Ed |date=29 April 2009 |publisher=Hachette Books }}</ref> Kaoma's "Lambada" was also a direct cover of ]'s legally authorized Portuguese-translated version of "Llorando se fue". Márcia Ferreira and José Ari wrote and adapted Los Kjarkas' song into Portuguese using an upbeat lambada rhythm as "Chorando se foi", which was released on Ferreira's third album in 1986.<ref name=marcia> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706153412/http://www.marciaferreira.com.br/ |date=2011-07-06 }} marciaferreira.com.br</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706154134/http://www.remember80.com.br/entrevista_marciaferreira.htm |date=2011-07-06 }} remember80.com.br. 02-26-2009.</ref> Due to Kaoma's clear act of plagiarism and release of their single without Los Kjarkas' permission, Los Kjarkas successfully sued Kaoma.
To make matters worse and even more confusing, there's another completely different style of dance called Zouk, which is the way people dance in Martinique (the french caribeean island where the Zouk music was born).
Now Kaoma's "Lambada" song is credited to the Hermosa brothers (authors), Márcia Ferreira (translation), José Ari (translation), and Alberto Maraví (original producer).<ref> sheetmusicdirect.com</ref>


==Evolution==


===Early interpretations===
==Lexicon==
With world repercussion, the dance reached far distortions. Due to a lack of fine Lambada dancers to make films and shows, most professional dancers started changing the way it was danced. ''Rock spins'' and ''steps'' were added, like those from ] and ]. Also some acrobatic movements became more commonplace.
When it comes to lexicon terminology the word ''lambada'' is associated with the act of brawling using clubs. Some associate it with the word "Lombada" which means bump, others with "Lombo" which means loin. There are also others that regardless of any dictionary references freely associate the word with the wavelike motion of a whip.


In contrast, Lambada contests at "Lambateria UM" (a place of Lambada) eliminated contestants if ever they became separated during the dance.
It was also thought to be a hoax in fashionable 80's New York dance clubs like the Palladium.


===Different styles of music===
After 1994 the Brazilian music style (also called Lambada), which gave birth to the dance, started to fade away, and the dancers began to use other musical sources to continue practicing the Lambada dance. Among these rhythms were the ] (such as from the ]) and some ]. Some very resistant dancers started to use other music styles to keep on dancing Lambada. Many of the Caribbean music like ], Merengue, Salsa, and ] were used to dance the Lambada.


Finally the dance recovered most of its original way and style, with less acrobatic moves, smoother, intimate and closer contact. Some people like Adílio Porto, Israel Szerman and Luís Florião (Brazilian teachers) regret that nowadays the dance changed its name to Zouk-Lambada in most parts of Brazil. This is mainly because of its musical orphanage.


==See also== === Brazilian Zouk ===
{{main|Brazilian Zouk}}
*]
Brazilian Zouk is a group of closely related dance styles based on or evolved from the lambada dance style and is typically danced to ] music or other music containing the zouk beat. The name Brazilian Zouk is used to distinguish the dance from the Caribbean Zouk dance style, which is historically related to, but very different from the Lambada dance style. The three lines of Brazilian Zouk are LambaZouk, traditional (or Rio) Zouk and Zouk of different styles.
*
*
*


==Films== ==Films==
*'']'' (1990) (''Lambada: Set the Night on Fire'')
*'']'' (1990) (''Lambada - The Forbidden Dance''/''The Forbidden Dance is Lambada'')
*'']'' (1990) (''Rhythm and Passion'')


==References==
*'']'' (1990) (Lambada: The Forbidden Dance)
{{Reflist|30em}}
*'']'' (1990) (Lambada: Set the Night on Fire)


==External link== ==External links==
{{Portal|Brazil}}
{{Commonscat|Lambada}}
*
*
*
*
*
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1056/NEJM199103213241217 |pmid=1997864 |title=Lambada Fracture |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=324 |issue=12 |pages=852 |year=1991 |last1=Thomson |first1=L. P |last2=Stein |first2=L. A |last3=Fish |first3=W. W }}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/02614360500200698 |title=The Re-Branding of Salsa in London's Dance Clubs: How an Ethnicised Form of Cultural Capital was Institutionalised |journal=Leisure Studies |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=385–97 |year=2005 |last1=Urquía |first1=Norman |s2cid=144253303 }}
*{{cite book |first1=Chris |last1=McGowan |first2=Ricardo |last2=Pessanha |chapter=Carimbó, Lambada, and the North |pages=154–7 |chapter-url={{Google books|7MFD-EoTR7MC|page=154|plainurl=yes}} |year=1998 |title=The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil |publisher=Temple University |isbn=978-1-56639-545-8 }}


{{Authority control}}
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{{Dance-stub}}


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Latest revision as of 19:32, 15 November 2024

Brazilian dance For other uses, see Lambada (disambiguation).
The Banda Calypso in 2009

Lambada (pronunciation) is a dance from the state of Pará in Brazil. The dance briefly became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the Philippines, Latin America and Caribbean countries. It has adopted aspects of dances such as maxixe, carimbó, forró, salsa and merengue.

Lambada is generally a partner dance. The dancers generally dance with arched legs, with the steps being from side to side, turning or even swaying, and in its original form never front to back, with a pronounced movement of the hips. At the time when the dance became popular, short skirts for women were in fashion and men wore long trousers, and the dance has become associated with such clothing, especially for women wearing short skirts that swirl up when the woman spins around, typically revealing 90s-style thong underwear.

Origins

Maxixe

Main article: Maxixe (dance)

The association of Lambada and the idea of 'dirty dancing' became quite extensive. The appellative "forbidden dance" was and is often ascribed to the Lambada. This was largely due to its links to Maxixe, a dance of the early 1920s, because of its spicy lyrics and close contact with the dance partner. This idea was further perpetuated by the 1990 movies Lambada and The Forbidden Dance, and the short skirts, typical to the Lambada dance, that were in fashion around 1988.

Lambada has many links with Maxixe and also with Forro. They have many figures in common. For example:

  • Balão apagado, a figure in which the lady rotates her head while it hangs loose.
  • Peão (also called boneca or toy doll), a figure in which the lady swings her head from side to side.

Carimbó

Main article: Carimbó

From the time that Brazil was a Portuguese colony, Carimbó was a common dance in the northern part of the country. Carimbó was a loose and very sensual dance which involved many spins by the female dancer, who typically wore a rounded skirt. The music was mainly to the beat of drums made of trunks of wood, thinned by fire.

Carimbó involved only side to side movements and many spins and hip movement, which has influenced lambada movements.

Etymology

After a while, a local radio station from Belém (Pará's capital city) started to call this new type of music "the strong-beated rhythm" and "the rhythms of lambada". The term "lambada" had a strong appeal and began to be associated with the new emerging face of an old dancing style.

The word lambada means "strong slap" or "hit" in Portuguese. However, as a dance form, lambada is of obscure etymology. In Portuguese it may refer to the wave-like motion of a whip. This flowing wave motion is reproduced by the dancers' bodies, and is one of the main elements that distinguish Lambada from other Latin dances.

Two-beat dance style

Around 1983, the Carimbó dance started again to be danced in couples, in a 2-beat style, something very close to Merengue, but with more spins.

Music

Aurino Quirino Gonçalves, or simply Pinduca, is a Brazilian musician and singer in the state of Pará, Brazil, where it is strongly believed he is the true father of the lambada music.

Pinduca is a musician and composer of mainly Carimbó. He is the singer and composer of the "King of Carimbó" (as it is affectionately known) and he created rhythms, such as: Sirimbó, Lári-Lári, Lambada and Lamgode. In 1976, he launched a song entitled Lambada (Sambão), track number 6 of the LP No embalo of carimbó and sirimbó vol. 5. It is the first Brazilian recording of a song under the label of Lambada.

Some support the version that the guitarist and composer Master Vieira, the inventor of the guitarrada, would also be the creator of the Lambada music. His first official disc, Lambada of Quebradas, was recorded in 1976 but officially launched two years later, in 1978.

In the late 1980s, the fusion between the metallic and electronic music from Caribbean brought again a new face to the Carimbó. This style started to be played throughout north-eastern Brazil (a place well known for its tourist approach), although this new Carimbó went with the name of Lambada.

Bahia

Four-beat dance style

The Lambada spread along the coast until it reached Bahia (the elder Brazilian state) where it was influenced by the Forró, an old Brazilian style of dance which also had a strong beat. It became a four-beat dancing style, which was distinctive from the original Carimbó.

Although the music of lambada began in Pará, the dance of Lambada did not gain a recognizable form until the music reached Porto Seguro in Bahia. In Pará, people moved to what was then a new beat by adapting dance styles that were familiar at that time such as forró, cumbia, carimbó, maxixe and merengue. But it was in the Boca da Barra beach cabana that the dance of lambada began to acquire a specific form - first as a very simple stepping in place in a close partner embrace, and quickly becoming more and more complex. Leaders in that community included the brothers Braz and Didi Dos Santos and Rebeca Lang, who won many lambada competitions and created steps that are still danced today in all Lambada styles.

Braz Dos Santos and partner Isabel winning the ‘campeão dos campeões’ (Champion of Champions) competition at Boca da Barra

This form of Lambada was danced with arched legs, with the steps being from one side to the other, and never from front to back. At the time short skirts for girls were in fashion and men wore long trousers, and the dance became especially associated with girls wearing short skirts. This association has continued until today, and the tradition is common in some places, such as the Lambar night club of São Paulo.

Carnival

Main article: Bahian Carnival

During the 1980s, the Carnival in Bahia was growing in popularity, and every summer a new kind of dance arose, only to disappear during the year after the tourists had left, with another dancing style and rhythm arising the following summer. A few years before the Lambada, there was the Fricote and the Ti-Ti-Ti among others dances, all of which disappeared never to be remembered again.

Among with the "Trio-eletricos" (big movable trucks covered with speakers, on top of which musicians would play during the Carnival in Bahia), in 1988 the Lambada started to become popular in Bahia, and established itself in the city of Porto Seguro. Still, in this first boom of the Lambada, the economically developed south-east region of Brazil despised the various rhythms which came from Bahia on a regular basis, and which were believed to be only summer hits.

Although it was recognized as a summer hit, the Lambada was not yet a true worldwide success. Many of the first lambaterias (a place to dance Lambada) which opened in 1988 couldn't survive the low tourism of the winter season, and closed a few months later.

Musicians

Prior to Kaoma's 1989 plagiarism of the Los Kjarkas song "Llorando se fue", dozens of groups and several singers had already performed the song using a dance rhythm, such as in 1984 with Cuarteto Continental, Sexteto Internacional, and Puerto Rican singer Wilkins. Argentine singer Juan "Corazón" Ramón in 1985 and Brazilian singer-songwriter Márcia Ferreira, who wrote the translation in Portuguese as "Chorando se foi", in 1986 were also widely successful with their covers. Other popular dance music groups, Tropicalisimo Apache from Mexico and Los Hermanos Rosario from the Dominican Republic covered the song in 1988. The song continues to be covered to this day; for example: Pastor López, Beto Barbosa, Manezinho do Sax, while others were increasing their careers, as was the case with Sidney Magal, Sandy e Júnior, Fafá de Belém and the group Trem da Alegria.

Kaoma's song "Lambada"

Main article: Lambada (song)

In 1988, French entrepreneur, Olivier Lamotte d'Incamps (aka Olivier Lorsac), visited Porto Seguro, Brazil and discovered locals dancing the tightly syncopated lambada to a melody that turned out to be Bolivian. D'Incamps became involved in the lambada dance craze, largely by promoting a European tour of Kaoma, a band formed with several musicians from the Senegalese group Touré Kunda. To display the dance in Europe, he chose a team of the best dancers at the Boca Da Barra (a dance cabana on the beach in Porto Seguro where lambada dancers refined and developed the style and form of the dance). Most notable among these young dancers chosen for the Kaoma company was Braz Dos Santos, who has become the most celebrated lambada dancer in the world today (recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award's "World’s Best LambaZouk Performer" at the Los Angeles Zouk Festival), and his brother Didi Dos Santos. After Olivier Lamotte d'Incamps bought the musical rights to over 400 lambada songs with Jean Georgakarakos, he took the dancers back to France and created the Kaoma band. They were part of lambada's worldwide known style, reaching all the way to Japan and Vietnam, where the dance is still popular.

The French group Kaoma recorded a number one worldwide summer hit "Lambada", sung in Portuguese by Loalwa Braz, which sold 5 million singles in 1989. The song peaked at #46 in the United States in 1990 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In Portuguese, the "Lambada" song is called "Chorando se foi", meaning In tears they went.

In the music video, there were two young children, named Chico and Roberta, performing the lambada dance. They shortly thereafter started their own musical career. Other music videos featured Loalwa Braz, Braz Dos Santos, Didi Dos Santos, and other dancers from the Kaoma European Tour. These videos were broadcast extensively worldwide and, capturing the imagination of audiences who were attracted to the sight of beautiful young people dancing sensuously in the sun, greatly boosted music sales.

The "Lambada" song was actually an unauthorized translation of the 1981 song "Llorando se fue" (meaning: In tears he/she left), by the Bolivian group Los Kjarkas. Also, the dance arrangements were an identical cover from the version of "Llorando se fue" recorded by the Peruvian group Cuarteto Continental and produced by Alberto Maravi. Kaoma's "Lambada" was also a direct cover of Márcia Ferreira's legally authorized Portuguese-translated version of "Llorando se fue". Márcia Ferreira and José Ari wrote and adapted Los Kjarkas' song into Portuguese using an upbeat lambada rhythm as "Chorando se foi", which was released on Ferreira's third album in 1986. Due to Kaoma's clear act of plagiarism and release of their single without Los Kjarkas' permission, Los Kjarkas successfully sued Kaoma. Now Kaoma's "Lambada" song is credited to the Hermosa brothers (authors), Márcia Ferreira (translation), José Ari (translation), and Alberto Maraví (original producer).

Evolution

Early interpretations

With world repercussion, the dance reached far distortions. Due to a lack of fine Lambada dancers to make films and shows, most professional dancers started changing the way it was danced. Rock spins and steps were added, like those from Jive and East Coast Swing. Also some acrobatic movements became more commonplace.

In contrast, Lambada contests at "Lambateria UM" (a place of Lambada) eliminated contestants if ever they became separated during the dance.

Different styles of music

After 1994 the Brazilian music style (also called Lambada), which gave birth to the dance, started to fade away, and the dancers began to use other musical sources to continue practicing the Lambada dance. Among these rhythms were the Flamenco Rumba (such as from the Gipsy Kings) and some Arabian music. Some very resistant dancers started to use other music styles to keep on dancing Lambada. Many of the Caribbean music like Soca, Merengue, Salsa, and Zouk were used to dance the Lambada.

Finally the dance recovered most of its original way and style, with less acrobatic moves, smoother, intimate and closer contact. Some people like Adílio Porto, Israel Szerman and Luís Florião (Brazilian teachers) regret that nowadays the dance changed its name to Zouk-Lambada in most parts of Brazil. This is mainly because of its musical orphanage.

Brazilian Zouk

Main article: Brazilian Zouk

Brazilian Zouk is a group of closely related dance styles based on or evolved from the lambada dance style and is typically danced to zouk music or other music containing the zouk beat. The name Brazilian Zouk is used to distinguish the dance from the Caribbean Zouk dance style, which is historically related to, but very different from the Lambada dance style. The three lines of Brazilian Zouk are LambaZouk, traditional (or Rio) Zouk and Zouk of different styles.

Films

References

  1. Dance History Archived 2007-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Lambada History - www.lambadamecrazy.co.uk Archived 2007-08-27 at the Wayback Machine
  3. pt:Pinduca
  4. Armonia 10 Archived 2016-10-13 at the Wayback Machine. Rosita Producciones Armonía 10 radionuevaq.com.pe
  5. 44 Aniversario de la creacion de la Cumbia Peruana frente al club de tiro del Rimac entrada libre lima.cuandodonde.com
  6. Julio César Mejía y el "Sexteto Internacional" Biography. 10-31-2006.
  7. Lambada (Llorando Se Fue) mp3 at Amazon.com
  8. Wilkins biography wilkinsmusic.com (Official Site)
  9. Biography Archived 2011-04-23 at the Wayback Machine juanramonfans.com.ar
  10. ^ Márcia Ferreira Official site Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine marciaferreira.com.br
  11. Album: Exitos quemantes by Tropicalisimo Apache. Published by Mercury Latino, 1988.
  12. Diaz, Carlos.Los Hermanos discography: Album Otra Vez (1988). elsoldelasamericas.com. 10-16-2010.
  13. Rypens, Arnold. "Llorando se fue". The Originals. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  14. "Our Patron's History: Awards". American Lambada Organization.
  15. Miles, Milo (January 21, 1990). "RECORDINGS; World Beat Has Become An Industry". The New York Times.
  16. Schreiner, Claus (1993). Música brasileira : a history of popular music and the people of Brazil. Marion Boyars. p. 225. ISBN 9780714529462.
  18. Morales, Ed (29 April 2009). The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond. Hachette Books. ISBN 9780786730209. Archived from the original on 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  19. Márcia Ferreira interview Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine remember80.com.br. 02-26-2009.
  20. Kaoma: Lambada sheetmusicdirect.com

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