Jongo

Jongo is an Afro-Brazilian tradition of southeastern Brazil, combining drumming, dance and improvised sung verses (pontos) over the caxambu and candongueiro drums. Created by enslaved Bantu-speaking Africans on the coffee plantations of the Paraíba Valley, it is an ancestor of samba and a practice linked to umbanda ritual. Its verses mix praise, satire and coded speech, answered by a chorus as couples dance facing the drums. The tradition was carried into the recording era by *Clementina de Jesus*, and is maintained by community groups such as *Jongo da Serrinha* in Rio de Janeiro.