samba

He said: "It was more like a salsa... This, for me, didn't go far enough into the world of samba."

Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, who helped popularise bossa nova and samba with Western audiences, has died at the age of 83, his family has confirmed.

But the real stars remain the resilient women who make up Blackswan’s lineup, both past and present, in particular Belgian-Senegalese Fatou Samba.

Samba — who sings and raps in fluent Korean — as the only original member left was tasked with uniting a new group composed of Gabi Dalcin from Brazil; Sriya Lenka, India’s first K-pop idol; and Florence Smith, known as Nvee, who is biracial and from the U.S.

Liani Devito, president of the Samba de Rainha dance school, told BBC News her 71 dancers and drummers would be bringing a "Brazilian flavour" to the streets of Notting Hill.