of afro-bahian origin, many of the rhythms that inspired samba were descendents of lundu, a music much used in celebrations and ceremonies. 

the musical style is a mix of african and brazilian music styles and it is played with percussion instruments, and accompanied by types of guitars, cavaquinhos, and ukuleles - typically, the genre's lyrics focus on the everyday life of poor city dwellers, their homes, work, emotions and loves.

there are many theories as of the origin of the term samba - some say its meaning is connected to tribal dances from africa, other claim samba was the word to generally describe all dances  of slaves in bahia, others relate the word samba as a distortion of the african word 'semba', meaning 'hit struck with the belly button'.