Brazil has long been a laboratory for sonic innovation, synthesizing the unique musical traditions of the country’s diverse population. At the cutting edge is baile funk, a sound that stems back ...

The foundations of funk were laid down in the mid-1960s, when James Brown began to emphasize the first beat of each measure in his stage-tested and frenzy-inducing R&B songs. Before the decade’s end, ...

The Ohio Players is one of many funk groups from Dayton that took off in the 1970s and '80s. In the mid-1960s, James Brown was creating a new style of music — funk. Instead of turning elaborate ...