Laughing Samba

Description

Laughing Samba, with lyrics by Anne Spear and Benny Meroff and music by J George Johnson and Vincent Rizzo, was first released in a recording by Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Orchestra in 1948. Ros was a successful musician and band leader of Trinidadian-Venezuelan descent, whose recording career reached his peak in the 1950s and 60s with orchestral arrangements of popular songs with Latin American rhythms such as the samba, rumba and the cha-cha-cha. The simple but catchy melody of Laughing Samba in particular became a commercial hit.

In this arrangement for very novice recorder quartet, the middle part can be played on treble or tenor recorder and the lowest part can be played on tenor or bass. Transposed parts for reading treble or bass recorder in C are also supplied.

Technical difficulty:

• The top two parts (S, S) are pre-Grade 1  – one octave from Low D, plus high E in the top part with very simple rhythms.
• The third part (A/T) is also pre-Grade 1 and supplied in an alternative version for playing Treble with C fingerings.
• The lowest part (T/B) is around Grade 1 – a little more active, with one chromatic bar and catchy and repetitive rhythms.