Afro-Brazilian

Afro-Brazilian music is the umbrella for the music of Brazil's African-descended population, formed where West and Central African traditions met Portuguese colonial culture. It encompasses the candomblé ceremonial repertories that preserve Yoruba, Fon and Bantu liturgy and drumming, the samba schools and partido-alto of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia's afoxé, ijexá and samba-reggae, and Pernambuco's maracatu nations. Artists from *Clementina de Jesus* and *Clara Nunes* to *Jorge Ben*, *Gilberto Gil* and the bloco afro *Olodum* have drawn modern Brazilian popular music repeatedly back to these sources. The term names a heritage and a rhythmic-religious foundation rather than one fixed style.