From one Portuguese-speaking country to another...
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This new musical style appears in Cape Verde, from which it will exclude (musically speaking), African instruments to use a studio sound. Their sample is much more marked with a beat than in modern zouk (this note is for amateurs ;-)).

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A visa for Europe...

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Music finally appeared in Portugal with commercial music artists such as Irmaos Verdade who offered a softer musicality.

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From Europe to the rest of the world.

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The beauty of kizomba music, and the talent of the artists, accompanied by beautiful dance videos that explode to the rhythm of social networks and video sites such as YouTube, kizomba crosses all borders, and becomes known and appreciated in many countries. many countries which do not even understand the language or the very culture of kizomba.

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Musically, styles continue to evolve and we see many beatmakers or DJs becoming artists in their own right to create and participate in many new genres. Among these genres we can identify the urban kiz, the tarraxo for example.

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Did you know...

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Brazilian artists also compose Kizomba (eg: Paulo Mac).

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The Different Musical Branches of Kizomba
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Today the world of Kizomba is divided into several musical branches. We will first cite the common core Semba, then Kizomba but finally Tarraxinha (or tarraxa). The latter is just a version where the whole dance is focused on the woman's swaying hips with which we will play to the rhythm of the music!
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Please note: Tarraxa (or tarracha) means dance, and tarraxinha (or tarrachinha) means music. In the language it is true that the suffix inha or inho in the masculine means small. However, in practice we see that tarraxinha constantly means music. And dance the tarraxa, the Portuguese speakers will say et vamos tarraxar. It's a verb. ​ In Cape Verde we can hear about certain musical genres that are part of the world of Kizomba such as Cabo Love, Ghetto zouk, ghetto tarraxa. In fact these terms do not define additional branches at all: ​ - In reality ghetto zouk is a catchy term that a well-known artist (shelsy shantel) used as the title of one of her singles. The fashion effect did the rest. - Cabo Love served as a musical compilation to bring together kizomba titles talking about love. Time did the rest. ​ The Birth of Kizomba Dance ​ We now know the national music and dance of Angola is Semba. It was and still is today...even if Kizomba is a creation of Angola. Their national dance is Semba. Let's not forget it! Most Angolans don't know how to dance kizomba. They also created capoeira.

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Obviously, the paragraph implies how the dance came into being. The Angolans simply danced “their” Semba to Kizomba. No dance was created on the occasion. They just adapted the rhythm of their steps to the slower tempo of Kizomba.

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Kizomba was born in the streets and in the evenings naturally. And that’s what makes its greatest charm.

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The Basics of Kizomba
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Kizomba does not benefit from a single basic step unlike salsa or bachata. First of all it has the "Jinga" (from semba), then the 3 beat, 5 beat and so on (from 3 beats, there are no more even beats). What really matters is when we are in movement, in connection, and without going out, we can only mark one side: the left side for the boy, and conversely, the right for the girl.

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The basic steps can therefore be ignored (or broken) under certain conditions, the rhythm can be respected in different ways (depending on certain steps).

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It is danced over several different dance distances (closed posture, exit posture, hand-to-hand distance, and even completely off the ground). There are 4 dance distances in kiz, not 2 as most dancers think.

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The guidance is done in several places (the torso, the arms, the hips, but also the legs for some time). Visual guidance also exists, it's more subtle but all good dancers do it instinctively, or they have excellent teachers.

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The kizomba posture is very precise and often reveals the level of the dancers.

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Isolators are masters in mastering and achieving a good level in dance. It is totally linked to musicality elsewhere.

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In short, this dance can only be learned from teacher to student, or from experienced dancers to amateur. You cannot learn kizomba by yourself. We teachers and good dancers, we instantly see dancers who train kizomba alone without having correctly learned the basics.

 

With precise explanations and advice. Internet videos cannot convey the essential subtleties of Kizomba. On the contrary, kizomba demo videos are traps.

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Remember this, dancers who dance in front of the cameras always do too much.

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The Different Styles of Kizomba
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Kizomba dance is practiced in all countries where Kizomba is broadcast...at least we hope so! ;-)

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Today we distinguish 4 major styles in the world of Kizomba:

 

1 - Namely the Angolan or traditional style or as the polemicists like to say: real kizomba.

 

2 - Kizomba fusion or European style (or "French style during a small period), as its name indicates, a fusion of kizomba with numerous tango, salsa or other movements (born in Europe but currently developed through the world).

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3 -  The urban kiz (born in France but has developed throughout the world).

 

4 - The tarraxo (urban version of the tarraxa*).

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Softness is not style. Don't mess around either.

 

Just like salsa which has three styles: Cuban style, port style and Colombian style. The appearances and evolutions of styles in a dance go hand in hand with its export throughout the world.

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Angola's kizomba demonstrates the posture most faithful to Semba. Small note: left hand of the dancer faithfully held upwards. But there are no precise rules on its position.

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The Cape Verdeans, for their part, proudly try to differentiate their style of kizomba from that of the Angolans. So much so that they do not claim to dance Kizomba. For them, their dance is called "Passade" which is therefore danced on Kizomba. If you ask a local dancer do they dance kizomba! He will proudly tell you that he dances the Passada. And indeed, we can call their dance as such, because it is very different from the Kizomba of Angola. The basics are well respected, however, it is danced on a very small closed dance space that we can visualize as a square. Footwork is omnipresent and saida (exits) are rare. The passada is a style dance. “Every dancer must have their own style”

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The European style was first born in Portugal.

 

The Urban kiz versus traditional Kizomba debate is a false debate. There are not only these styles, and there are many, as many as there are dancers who dance, express themselves in their own way to the music. Case study: the style of Jonathan Mahoto and Jenny, their kizomba is more acrobatic.

 

Georges Bitaud

Kizomber...is sharing!!!