Samba is a family of rhythms that grew out of Afro-Brazilian communities in Bahia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with roots in West African musical traditions. The word first meant a popular dance before it came to name a music genre, and the milestone song 'Pelo Telefone' from 1917 is usually seen as its first landmark. Modern samba was structured in the late 1920s in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Estacio, which introduced a faster, more syncopated drum pattern and a two-part song form. Samba schools then shaped its rhythm and radio spread it across Brazil. Once criminalised, samba is now one of the country's main symbols of national identity, and UNESCO recognised samba de roda in 2005.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.