A Bit of History
The success and popularity of samba music throughout the world exemplifies the importance of celebrating cultural diversity and innovation.
Samba is a musical style that is very popular around the world. Samba comes from the mixture of different African rhythms, focused primarily on percussive patterns and dynamic musical arrangements. Samba originates from the Brazilian slave population in the early 19th century and was popularized by the freed slaves who moved to urban centers like Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. It is important to highlight that Brazil was the unwanted home of more than 6 million people taken from different central and western African communities. In 1888, Brazil was one of the last nations to officially outlaw slavery, and upon being freed the former slaves migrated to urban centers seeking better opportunities.
Samba held a very special place in the hearts of the afro-descendant communities in Brazil, it was a collective activity that celebrated their culture and shared experiences. Samba in its early days provided a much-needed community for the afro-descendants in urban centers, causing further mixing of different cultural practices and backgrounds. The resulting explosion in creativity and innovation is directly responsible for the popularity of samba music despite wide-spread censorship and persecution from government officials at the time.
Samba music became a national phenomenon in the 1920’s after being adopted by the government to represent the Carnaval festival. Samba music tells the stories of Brazilian communities, their shared victories and sufferings, and what has been done to overcome them.
The Definition
The word “samba” has many meanings as is common for words originating from tribal dialects. For our Brazilian founders, samba is what we grew up with, it’s our childhood and culture, and it stands for more than just music. For us “samba” is the feeling of belonging, the comforting feeling of being accepted and celebrated for who you are. It’s the feeling of that fresh cup of coffee after a good night’s sleep, the warmth of enjoying sunny mornings with your significant other.
For a long time, we have been looking for a way to bottle that feeling so we can share it with the world! Unfortunately, bottling technology isn’t advanced enough. Our journey to share this feeling brought us to the bedding space and how we could communicate the feeling samba means to us.
A few factors made us think this was the perfect way to share the “samba” feeling. Since the average person spends one-third of their life sleeping (or trying to sleep), we realized that there is nothing more comforting than a good night’s sleep; and the best samba music leaves us feeling better than a good night's sleep.
We wanted to share that feeling with the world which is where samba fresh blend sheets come in.