現代森巴的音樂類型是在19世紀20年代時開始建立[12][15][17]，一開始只從里約熱內盧埃斯塔西奧（英语：Estácio, Rio de Janeiro）的附近開始，很快透過通勤铁路延伸到埃斯塔西奧以及里約熱內盧的其他地區[18]。新的森巴在節奏、旋律以及主題上都有創新[19]。其節奏變化以是新的打擊樂器模式為基礎，產生更多「batucado」以及切分（syncopated）的風格[20]，其特徵是速度較快、音符更長[21][22]，和原有的「森巴－玛嬉喜」不同[23]。埃斯塔西奧典範（Estácio paradigm）的創新也表現在將森巴以歌曲形式上，在第一部份和第二部份的旋律和歌詞都有其音樂的組織[16][24][25]。因此，埃斯塔西奧以一種現代而又完備的方式[16]，產生、建構且重新定義了都市卡里奧卡森巴（Urban Carioca Samba）。在建立都市和現在音樂呈現方式的過程中，卡里奧卡森巴發揮了森巴學校（英语：samba school）的決定性作用，定義並決定其節奏上的美學基礎[26]，並且進行電台廣播，這對森巴音樂以及演唱者的流行有很大的幫助。其[27]。因此，森巴在巴西有很大的進展，成為巴西国族认同的國家象徵之一[nb 1][nb 2][30]。森巴音樂一度曾因為其非洲以及巴西的來源而被拒絕，因為其神話傳統，視為是勞工階級的音樂，後來巴西的上層階級以及文化精英人士也接受了森巴音樂[7][31]。
^"Many groups and individuals (Blacks, Gypsies, Bahians, Cariocas, intellectuals, politicians, folklorists, classical composers, French, millionaires, poets - and even an American ambassador) participated, with greater or lesser tenacity, in the 'fixation' of samba as a musical genre and its nationalization".[28]
^"(...) the transformation of samba into national music was not a sudden event, going from repression to praise in less than a decade, but the crowning of a secular tradition of contacts (...) between various social groups in attempt to invent Brazilian identity and popular culture."[29]
The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil. by McGowan, Chris and Pessanha, Ricardo. 2nd edition. Temple University Press. 1998.
互联网电影数据库（IMDb）上《Samba on Your Feet by Eduardo Montes-Bradley》的资料（英文）, a documentary on the history of samba in Brazil with particular emphasis on Rio de Janeiro. The film is in Portuguese with English subtitles and approaches the subject interestingly.
Samba. by Alma Guillermoprieto. Jonathan Cape London 1990.
Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. by Peter Fryer. Pluto Press 2000.
Making Samba: A New History of Race and Music in Brazil. by Marc A. Hertzman. Duke University Press 2013.
