Lambada
The fast, arching Brazilian dance craze of the late 1980s.
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Overview
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Etymology and naming
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Origins
Carimbó and Caribbean Roots: Where Lambada Came From
Lambada grew from the Afro-Indigenous carimbó of Pará, electrified by Caribbean rhythms
3 min read
Pará and Carimbó: The Amazonian Roots of Lambada
How an Afro-Indigenous regional tradition of northern Brazil furnished the movement and music that lambada later carried abroad.
5 min read
The 1989 Global Lambada Craze
The commercial and musical context of a late-1980s dance phenomenon whose internal history the surviving record only partly preserves.
3 min read
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Musical anatomy
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Technique
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Pioneers
Beto Barbosa: The King of Lambada
From Belém in the Amazon, the singer who made lambada a Brazilian sensation
3 min read
Kaoma and "Chorando Se Foi"
The 1989 lambada single and its contested transatlantic lineage
3 min read
Márcia Ferreira: The Song Behind the Lambada
Her Portuguese version of "Chorando Se Foi" became the world's biggest lambada — and a landmark copyright case
2 min read
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Cultural context
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Recordings
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Influence
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Common misconceptions
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Glossary
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