Accompanying the legitimization process of the carioca samba during the first three decades of the 20th Century, the author investigates how this rhythm gradually has gone from black ghettos to a national sphere. Such process was conflicting and ambiguous for being attached to Brazil's social recognition of black people. Therefore, if the rhythm was the same, its meaning and usage were diverse. The elites' esthetic sensitivity split during the period of time that referred to tath popular music, which has provoked an oscillation between recognition and rejection. This double perspective is related to one of the intellectuals' and governors' great dilemmas concerning the constitution of a political body in the First Republic. If, on one hand, the social Darwinist criteria were obstacles preventing the incorporation of black people in the public sphere, on the other, the black cultural traditions - set aside as a sign of "decadence" - had already become a national exponent. Finally, it is investigated how this dilemma showed no results in attempting to create a popular symbolization during the First Republic towards its political legitimacy.
Popular music; First Republic; 1900-1930; black cultural traditions; Negro; popular symbolization; carioca samba