Samba de breque

Samba de breque is a subgenre of samba that emerged in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the 1940s, defined by the breque: a sudden, full stop in the accompaniment (from "brake") during which the singer steps out of the melody to deliver spoken, usually comic commentary before the band resumes. Built on the standard samba batterie of surdo, tamborim, cuíca and cavaquinho, it casts the singer as the malandro, the sharp-dressed rogue of Rio street life, narrating scams, police escapes and romantic misadventures with theatrical timing. *Moreira da Silva*, its definitive interpreter, made the spoken aside the centre of the performance.