A LIVING ARCHIVE OF HOMEGROWN MIAMI’S EVOLVING SAMBA CULTURE, CARNAVAL VOLTAGE & BACKYARD ROOTS.
Miamibloco’s annual “Roots of Samba” is more than a party: it is an act of joy, a Black and Latin diasporic celebration that insists our cultures are not background noise but the main stage. O samba é Preto.
In a city of constant reinvention, this is where Miami connects to its roots by way of the common drum beats that unite us. We’ll channel the spirit of Rio’s quadras: sweaty, communal, people-powered, and radically alive.
From the first chord of our Roda de Samba Raiz with “Pagode de Mesa”, the space flips into a living archive of samba: People shoulder to shoulder, voices layered over handclaps, remembering that this music was born from communities who turned oppression into rhythm and survival into celebration. Singing together is not just fun; it is resistance against isolation, erasure, and silence.
If you have ever wanted to feel Rio in your chest without a passport, this is it. Come early, claim your spot in the roda, sing with us, dance with us, and help keep Miami’s samba heart beating strong.
The night opens with a grounding Samba no pé class, to tune into the energy of Samba as a living movement. Then the Roda de Samba Raiz “Pagode de Mesa” takes the stage, where voices stack, cavaquinho sings, and the whole crowd becomes the choir. This is your invitation to sing loud, clap on every surdo hit, and connect to the lineage of samba that has carried joy, resistance, and community across generations.
Then Bateria Saideira takes over, six dozen drummers (ritmistas) surging like a bloco through the space, lifting the energy to full Carnaval voltage. Close your eyes and you are in a Rio quadra: sweat in the air, hips moving on instinct, every break a call to jump, shout, and dance until the last repique cut.
