Lambada: The Song That Launched a Global Dance Craze

In the summer of 1989, the world suddenly wanted to dance the lambada — and the song that made it happen was Kaoma's irresistible, controversial hit of the same name.^[1]

A French-Brazilian smash

After French producers bought the rights to hundreds of lambada songs in Brazil, they assembled the group Kaoma in France, with Brazilian, African, and Caribbean musicians.^[1] Released in July 1989 with vocals by the Brazilian singer Loalwa Braz, "Lambada" became a number-one hit across much of the world, reportedly selling some five million singles and turning the sensual partner dance from the Brazilian state of Pará into an international phenomenon.^[1]

The song behind the song

"Lambada" was not original. Its melody came from "Llorando se fue," a song by the Bolivian group Los Kjarkas, by way of a 1986 Portuguese version, "Chorando Se Foi."^[1] Kaoma had recorded it without proper credit, and Los Kjarkas sued; courts ultimately ruled in favor of the original authors, in one of pop music's most famous plagiarism cases.^[1]

Why it matters

However tangled its origins, "Lambada" carried a Brazilian dance — descended from Pará's carimbó and a blend of cumbia, merengue, forró, and Caribbean rhythms — to a global audience.^[2] The craze it sparked seeded the later evolution of the Brazilian zouk partner dance, and its melody would echo again decades later when it was sampled in another worldwide hit.^[1]