The pulsating music of Carnival is samba - invented by poor Afro-Brazilians & still uniquely Brazilian to this day. Here is a good sampling of samba music created for the 4-day Rio Carnival*, said by many to be the biggest party in the world, as well as some famous Brazilian football anthems.
The 2010 Rio Carnival starts on Saturday Feb 13th and finishes on Fat Tuesday, Feb 16th.
*”Rio Carnival is a wild 4 day celebration, 40 days before Easter. It officially starts on Saturday and finishes on Fat Tuesday with the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday after which one is supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures. Carnival with all its excesses, celebrated as a profane event, can be considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh. It usually happens in February, the hottest month in the Southern Hemisphere, when the Rio summer is at its peak.” - From http://www.rio-carnival.net/