"Na Cadencia Bonita do Samba": Accomplishing Suingue in Toronto

What happens when Afro-Brazilian sounds like samba are lifted from their context of origin and performed by and for non-Brazilians in Canada? In particular, what happens to the samba groove--"cadência" or "suingue" as Brazilians call it--and what does this suingue do, or not do, to those performing? I explore such questions by focusing on two interrelated matters pertaining to what the editors of this volume refer to as a presumed Brazilian improvisative consciousness: the pedagogical dynamics of samba transmission, and the dialectics of freedom and restraint in samba’s creative processes, particularly in the context of Canadian samba. This article is informed by my ongoing field research with performers of Afro-Brazilian music in Toronto and surrounding areas who play in large, amateur ensembles such as Batucada Carioca, of which I am a member