Brazilian Music Legends

This is just a very small sample of the wonders that are out there! All CDs donated to our site automatically become part of the Sheila Thomson Collection of Brazilian Culture at Florida International University in Miami.

Um Pouco de Mim, Sergio Natureza e Amigos. A veteran on top of the world: beloved lyricist Sergio Natureza scored big time when he invited a group of friends to record a few of his best-known songs: familiar voices (Lenine, Zeca Baleiro) and enchanting newcomers with privileged vocal chords, such as the stunning Tanio Bicalho from Minas Gerais. One of Maria's iPod top choices!

Canções de Noel Rosa, Cristina Buarque & Henrique Cazes, KCD 129, Kuarup Discos. Cristina and Henrique team up in what sounds like an intimate show of Noel's songs. Henrique plays violão here and tells some very funny Noel stories, too. It's all here: Noel the anti-romantic, satirist, and great poet. A new big favorite of ours.

Look for volume two also. Real gems both of them.

Songbook Ary Barroso Volume 1, CD 107.446, Lumiar Discos, projected and produced by Almir Chediak. This is the first volume in a trilogy of all new recordings of songs by the legendary master of Brazilian music. It's very hard to say which is our favorite in this one, Tom Jobim and Na Batucada da Vida - which was recorded years ago by Elis Regina - or Caetano Veloso singing Camisa Amarela, or maybe Elza Soares e Aquarela Carioca in É Luxo Só...And, of course, there's a wonderful recording of Eu nasci no morro with Monarco, Luciana Rabello on cavaquinho—that's Raphael Rabello's sister, one of the great cavaquinho players of Brazil—and the singers (pastoras) of the Samba School Portela...Please, go order this one!
Songbook Ary Barroso Volumes 2 and 3 are here too! Fantastic selection and interpretations, including a recording of the Hino do Flamengo (Flamengo being Ary's soccer team/passion) by João Bosco. The special treat here is it starts with Ary narrating a Flamengo game in his days as a sportscaster...Very emotional stuff for me!

Radamés Gnattali, Mestres da MPB, Vols. 1 and 2, CD 995962-2 and 063010777-2, Warner Music Brasil.
Paulo Moura interpreta Radamés Gnattali
Radamés Gnattali: Retratos
I'm not even going to try to sing his praises, I wouldn't know how. Radamés was THE greatest; Tom Jobim and countless others are and will forever be enormously indebted to him. Composer, arranger, pianist and mentor, he dominated Brazil's music scene for decades. Do yourself a big favor, stop reading and go order these CDs from your favorite store or catalog.

Brazilian CDs