Brazilian Portuguese the last decades of the 20th century, due to the popularity of Brazilian music and Brazilian soap operas. Since Brazil joined Mercosul, the South American free trade zone, Portuguese has been increasingly studied as a foreign language in Spanish-speaking partner countries. Many words of Brazilian origin (also used in other Portuguese-speaking countries) have also entered into English: samba, bossa nova, cruzeiro, milreis and capoeira. While originally Angolan, the word "samba" only became famous worldwide because of its popularity in Brazil. After independence in 1822, Brazilian idioms with African and Amerindian influences were brought to Portugal by returning Portuguese Brazilians ("luso-brasileiros"
Brazilian gaucho music Brazilian gaucho music Brazilian gaucho music (in Portuguese "música gaúcha brasileira" or "música nativista"), denotes the traditional music of Southern Brazil, especially the one of Río Grande do Sul state, whose population has a strong ancestry of European countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany. The word "gaucho" refers to the countryside and farm people. Among the main musical styles of "gaucho music" there are: milonga, chamamé, chamarra, polca, vanera (with the variants vanerão y vanerinha), bugio, rasguido doble and rancheira. The songs of "gaucho music" present themes of the folk traditions of the "gaucho": field, farm, horse, moral values,