One of the primary instigators in the creation of the bossa nova style was Antônio Carlos Jobim (also known as Tom Jobim). He’s a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist whose songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists, Brazil and international alike. João Gilberto (born in my favorite part of Brazil, Bahia) is also a Grammy Award-winner – a singer and guitarist often called the “Father of Bossa Nova” for his role in defining the music genre. His recordings in the 1950s (including many songs by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes) established bossa nova as a steadfast element of Brazil’s musical landscape. Vinicius de Moraes (nicknamed O Poetinha – the little poet) from Rio de Janeiro was equally seminal in the contemporary Brazilian music scene. He wrote poetic lyrics for a great number of songs that were to become all-time classics. In addition to being a composer, he was also a playwright, and a diplomat. Gilberto Gil is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, and was until very recently, Brazil’s Minister of Culture. He is best known for his late 1960s Tropicalismo (also known as Troplicália, the art movement that arose in the 1960s in Brazil, and encompassed theater, poetry, music and art) recordings such as “Roda”, “Lunik 9”, and “Domingo No Parque”. Gil began his career as a bossa nova musician, but soon began (along with the likes of Caetano Veloso) writing songs centered on political awareness and social activism. Caetano Veloso is one of Brazil’s most popular and influential composers and singers. Born in Bahia, his younger sister (Maria Bethânia) preceded him into fame as a singer in the mid-1960s. His music spans many genres including bossa nova, Tropicália, Brazilian pop, and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira, or literally “Brazilian Popular Music”.) Celso Machado is a world music guitarist, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist. He lives in Vancouver, Canada but for over thirty years he has performed on concert stages throughout Brazil, Western Europe and Canada, as well as in the United States. He a teacher, composer and recording artist known for his ability to imitate bird calls using wind and percussion instruments. Juju Duarte is a gutsy singer from the back streets of Rio. Duarte sang for two decades in samba clubs, at religious gatherings, and street parties. His music is straightforward, folksy, and irresistible, infused with bossa nova and samba beats, played on an acoustic guitar. Check out his album Da Rua Dos Ossos (2007).

Moving on to the bands that were equally popular during the 1960s and 1970s (in the height of the Tropicália movement), we have Os Mutantes. They were an influential psychedelic rock band originally comprised of two brothers and a vocalist, but since then, have gone through numerous personnel changes. After a hiatus from the late 1970s (during the height of the Tropicália scene) to the early 2000s, the band reunited for a tour in 2006. Gal Costa (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos) from Salvador, is one of Brazil’s foremost female Tropicália movement singers and guitar players who played and sang during the late 1960s and 70s. Along with her friend Maria Bethânia, she became a political activist during the era of censorship under Brazil’s dictatorial government. Tom Zé (born Antônio José Santana Martins) has an eccentric style that bears him the title of being one of Brazil’s most iconic representatives of the ‘alternative sound’. Not only does he use objects as instruments, but also maintains an eclectic personal style. Influential during the Tropicália movement, Zé contributed (along with other artists such as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, and Nara Leão) to the infamous Tropicália album / manifesto Tropicália: Ou Panis Et Circenses.
Milton Nascimento is a self-taught Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist considered an icon of MPB. Djavan (from Alagoas) combines traditional Brazilian rhythms with popular music drawn from all over the American continent, Europe and Africa; try Bicho Solto (1999). Tim Maia (who died in 1998) was an icon, known for his ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs, performing soul music, funk, and bossa nova in the 1990s. Marisa Monte was classically trained in opera singing, but grew up surrounded by the sounds of the Portela samba school. She combines diverse influences into her music. After the 1980s Brazilian Pop rock scene, she went to semi-exile in Italy where she became a hybrid of MPB diva and Pop rock performer. She has recorded traditional samba and folk tunes, as well and songs by Marvin Gaye and Lou Reed as well as many foreign artists. Lenine, a singer-songwriter from Recife, won two Latin Grammy awards in 2005 for “Best Brazilian Contemporary Album” and “Best Brazilian Song”. Jorge Ben from Rio is a popular musician whose characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock; his lyrics blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.

Emerging in the 1980s and onwards, Legião Urbana is one of the most successful rock bands in Brazilian history. Originally created in 1983, the post-punk band continued to exist until 1996, with the death of its vocalist, Renato Russo. Cidade Negra’s songs about love and social issues have influences of reggae, soul and rock. CéU (whose full name is Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças) is a new, young face in the musical scene, but she’s quickly gaining notoriety. She is a singer-songwriter from São Paulo (born in 1980) whose first American album was released on the Six Degrees label in April 2007. She was born into a musical family as her father is a composer, arranger and musicologist. It was from her father that she learned to appreciate Brazil’s classical music composers, particularly Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ernesto Nazaré and Orlando Silva. Her music blends samba, bossa nova, reggae, pop and electronic. Ana Carolina (born in 1974 in Minas Gerais) is a singer, song-writer and multi-instrumentalist, who also came from a musical family. She grew up listening to MPB icons such as Chico Buarque, João Bosco and Maria Bethânia and international singers Nina Simone, Björk and Alanis Morissette. Seu Jorge (born Jorge Mário da Silva in 1970) was raised in a favela in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state. His fans consider him a “renewer” of Brazilian pop samba. Jorge cites samba school Estação Primeira de Mangueira, composers Nelson Cavaquinho, Zeca Pagodinho, and American soul singer Stevie Wonder as major musical influences.