Gold Star Ballroom Series: Samba

 (3 customer reviews)

I will enjoy listening to this great selection of vocal sambas again and again. And it makes me want to dance! If the disc insert listed who the artists are, I might even give it five stars.
There are several editions of this disc (2003, 2005, 2006) and they all seem to be the same. Shop wisely!
The tempos range from 49-54 measures per minute. All but five of them fall within competition standards (49-51 mpm).

Here are the titles, durations, suggested dance, tempos in mpm, and additional comments for each track:

Bailamos, 3:22, Samba (52 mpm), mixed vocal
Jingo, 2:00, Samba (52 mpm), mixed vocal
Macarena, 3:49, Samba (50 mpm), mixed vocal
Mercedes Benz, 2:46, Samba (50 mpm), female vocal
Meu Piao, 2:45, Samba (49 mpm), mixed vocal
Never say never again, 2:47, Samba (50 mpm), female vocal
Nights on Broadway, 3:09, Samba (49 mpm), mixed vocal
One note de Samba, 2:51, Samba (50 mpm), female vocal
Tic tic tac, 3:38,...Read more

If Brasilia were the capital of the world, everybody would grow up knowing samba and how to dance to it.

Alas, the world has not capital and Brasilia on the short list. So most of us need to be *taught* to dance samba. That's where this CD claims its usefulness. Each of eighteen tunes is worked out to 'strict tempo' samba in order to facilitate dancing by the novices, the newcomers, and the merely stiff.

If you're new to this, I must warn you. Samba is contagious. But there are worse things to catch.

If this kind of infectious rhythm doesn't seem like such a bad idea to you, start here.

I must agree with the first reviewer. This CD makes me want to get up and dance! I was a bit doubtful about the three or four non-traditional samba song selections (country, pop, disco), but they are growing on me. I listen to this CD almost every day, and practice my samba between lessons with great enjoyment. I'd say.....great samba collection for the price!