A perplexing aspect of music education is pupils performing a piece of non-European music such as samba without their knowing anything of the origins of the music or its cultural significance. Pupils may be unaware of who plays the music in its original context, and may retain inherited and stereotypical notions about the particular culture in which they have been engaged. A project, lasting a year, was initiated to ascertain the effects that an extended programme of work based on samba might have on students training to be teachers of music. The purpose of 'Free Samba' was twofold: to examine what musical skills students felt they had acquired; and to assess the value of learning not only the music but the cultural context of the music as well. The outcome of this study raises the question of whether it is possible to develop a true understanding of music without knowledge of its cultural context.