Some samba with your salsa?

At first, I thought it was too funny that BBC World News is using salsa as the soundtrack for its full perspective on Brazil during World Cup season. The more I think about it, though, the more incensed I am that the culture of this gigantic country should be subsumed in a giant melting pot called “Latin America”. Although its music is rich and varied, from frevo to Axé, from MPB to funk, any Brazilian who knows or cares would immediately identify samba as the national rhythm. Why hold the World Cup in Brazil and then insist on placing the soul of the event in the Caribbean?