Aquarium Drunkard — In October 1966 Rita Lee and brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias walked on stage for the first time as Os Mutantes to perform on a Brazilian TV show. In hindsight, it was a momentous occasion. Several months later they became involved with the... more info

Guardian Music — (Nonesuch)David Byrne's world music label Luaka Bop introduced the likes of Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil to a new western audience in 1989. Fifteen years later, Veloso invited "my favourite American artist" to appear with him in New York, and now ... more info

Aquarium Drunkard — Like Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso before him, Arthur Verocai and his auspicious 1972 debut transcend borders, time and genre. An album full of ‘moments’ – “Na Boca Do Sol” and “Caboclo” immediately come to mind – it’s ... more info

Guardian Music — (Concord) This album from São Paulo's Eliane Elias is more orthodox than Emily Saunders's, but it's delivered with effortless musicality and idiomatic variety. Elias has dominated this territory since the 1980s as a vocalist and a postbop pianist. T... more info

Guardian Music — (Far Out) The original Banda Black Rio were one of the great Brazilian bands of the 1970s and 80s. Formed by saxophonist Oberdan Magalhães, they were pioneers of the country's soul, samba and funk movement, and played a key role in Rio's black mus... more info

Guardian Music — 27 December 1986: Number 29 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk music1968 was a year of political upheaval in Brazil, with a soundtrack provided by a new musical movement, tropicalia, headed by Gilberto Gil and Caetano... more info

Guardian Music — Mr BongoRecife, the capital of Brazil's Pernambuco state, has never enjoyed the status or publicity of Salvador or Rio, but it's one of the country's great music centres. A port city famous for its African-influenced maracatu styles and the wild fusi... more info

Aquarium Drunkard — This was Som Imaginario’s (Imaginary Sound) debut album from 1970; a Brazilian band that often backed the great Milton Nascimento just as Os Mutantes had backed Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso on their early albums. In fact, this album could be see... more info

Guardian Music — (Soul Jazz)Bossa Nova transformed the Brazilian music scene. The music was cool, intimate and sophisticated, mixing samba canção with American jazz and even western classical styles, and defined what many saw as a golden era for the country, in the... more info

Guardian Music — What scuppered Wyclef Jean's bid to be president of Haiti? Well, it wasn't modesty. On the eve of the election result, the rapper talks death threats and dirty tricks with Dorian Lynskey'Haiti is my country," declares Wyclef Jean. "The same way the B... more info