Artists and Recordings

Artist Name: Rica Amabis
Genre: MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), Samba
Country: BrazilArtist Bio:  Growing up in Brazil, Rica Amabis was exposed to a variety of music. He was influenced mainly by reggae, jazz and punk rock.  In the early '90s, Amabis packed up his belongings and moved to New York, where he studied sound engineering. As a producer/composer, he has worked with many artists, such as SP Funk, Otto, Los Sea Dux, Andrea Marquee, Macao Zumbi, and Walter Franco.  In 2000, Rica Amabis released his own album, "Sambadelic," a combination of electronics-meet-samba compositions.

Artist Name: Alcione
Genre: Samba
Country: BrazilArtist Bio: 

Singer, clarinetist and trumpeter Alcione studied music with her father, a marching band maestro, in Maranhão (Northeast). She headed to Rio de Janeiro at age 20, working briefly on television. Alcione toured around Chile and Argentina, returning to Brazil and settling in São Paulo until going out on tour in Europe, where she remained for a couple of years. Back in Brazil in 1972, she got her first gold record three years later with the LP A Voz do Samba.  Her mostly romantic sambas are very successful. Some of her greatest hits are: "Não Deixe o Samba Morrer," "Sufoco," "Gostoso Veneno," "Rio Antigo," "Nem Morta" and "Garoto Maroto."


Artist Name: Almir Guineto
Genre: Samba
Country: BrazilArtist Bio:  A true representative of the early pagode (backyard samba parties in low-income areas of Rio), Almir Guineto was director of the samba school Salgueiro, founding member of the group Fundo de Quintal and a member of the group Originais do Samba for 10 years before going after a solo career.

Guineto was born on Salgueiro Hill into a family of musicians. His career took a U-turn when he was first in a music festival in 1981 with the song "Mordomia." Guineto is credited with having introduced the banjo into the pagode. —

Ivan Lins-This song is taken from his latest release, in which he pays homage to one of Brazil's greatest composers, Noel Rosa, by interpreting some of Rosa's most popular and well-known compositions. Rosa is known and loved in Brazil as the composer of a whole range of classic sambas, with wondeful lyrics, often full of social and political commentary.  Ivan Lins is a well-known artist and composer, both in Brazil and beyond- especially in the US, where his compositions have been covered by jazz musicians.