Brazilian genres and subgenres
Brazilian music is not one genre: it is more than twenty families that have been crossing paths for centuries. Each card below says where and when the sound was born, who defines it and where to start listening.
Samba
Rio de Janeiro
Heir to the samba de roda of Bahia's Recôncavo, carried into the homes of Rio's 'Bahian aunts' in the early 20th century, samba is the rhythm the world associates with Brazil. 'Pelo Telefone' (1917) is the first registered samba; from there came the samba schools, samba-canção, partido-alto and, in the 1980s, pagode.
13 subgenres: Samba de roda, Roots samba, Samba-canção, Samba de breque, Samba-exaltação, Samba-enredo…
109 artistsChoro
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil's first urban instrumental genre: European polkas and waltzes played with African syncopation on flute, cavaquinho and guitars. Pixinguinha is the central name; 'Carinhoso' and 'Brasileirinho' are known worldwide.
3 subgenres: Modinha and lundu, Maxixe, Choro
16 artistsBossa Nova
Rio de Janeiro
Slowed-down samba, jazz harmony and a near-whispered voice: bossa nova was born in Rio's Zona Sul apartments with João Gilberto, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, and in 1964 'The Girl from Ipanema' made it the most-heard Brazilian music on the planet.
1 subgenres: Bossa nova
16 artistsMPB
TV festivals, Rio and São Paulo
'Música Popular Brasileira' is the name the country gave, from the 1960s TV festivals on, to the sophisticated songwriting of Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento and Djavan. It is not a rhythm: it is a song tradition that absorbs samba, bossa, baião, rock and jazz.
7 subgenres: Festival-era MPB, Tropicália, Clube da Esquina, Pessoal do Ceará, New MPB, Vanguarda Paulista…
80 artistsBrazilian Rock
Rio, São Paulo, Brasília and the whole country
It began with rock'n'roll covers in 1955, became Jovem Guarda in the 1960s, psychedelia with Os Mutantes, and exploded in the 1980s with the 'BRock' of Legião Urbana, Titãs and Paralamas. It has export-grade metal (Sepultura, Angra), hardcore, manguebeat, emo and a vigorous indie scene.
28 subgenres: Jovem Guarda / iê-iê-iê, Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock, Rock rural, Hard rock, BRock (1980s)…
471 artistsSertanejo
Rural São Paulo, Minas, Goiás and Paraná
Brazil's most-streamed genre today was born as caipira music in 1929, with viola duos singing in thirds. It modernized with Chitãozinho & Xororó, became romantic pop in the 1990s and, after 2005, the 'universitário' of Jorge & Mateus, Luan Santana and Marília Mendonça took over the charts.
5 subgenres: Caipira / roots, Romantic sertanejo, Sertanejo universitário, Feminejo, Agronejo
89 artistsBrazilian Funk
Rio de Janeiro, then São Paulo
Nothing to do with American funk: funk carioca was born at 1980s dance parties out of Miami bass and found its Portuguese voice with DJ Marlboro (1989). It moved through melody, proibidão, tamborzão, São Paulo's ostentação and 150 BPM; today 'baile funk' is exported by Anitta, Kevin o Chris and São Paulo's mandelão.
10 subgenres: Funk melody, Conscious funk, Proibidão, Tamborzão, Funk ostentação, 150 BPM funk…
119 artistsRap and Hip-Hop
São Paulo, then Rio, Brasília and Fortaleza
Brazilian hip-hop grew up in black dance parties and at São Paulo's São Bento metro station. Racionais MC's gave the genre its masterpiece in 1997; in the 2010s Emicida, Criolo and Djonga took rap to the centre of culture, and Matuê made trap the most-streamed sound among the young.
3 subgenres: Rap nacional, Brazilian trap, Drill
106 artistsForró
Pernambuco, Paraíba, Ceará and the whole Northeast
Luiz Gonzaga invented the accordion, zabumba and triangle trio and launched baião in 1946; 'Asa Branca' is the anthem of the sertão. From xote and xaxado to pé-de-serra, forró reached the universities in the 1990s, the huge stages of Fortaleza's electronic forró and, in the 2020s, piseiro.
6 subgenres: Baião, Xote and xaxado, Pé-de-serra forró, Forró universitário, Electronic forró, Piseiro
60 artistsAxé and Bahian Music
Salvador, Bahia
Salvador invented the trio elétrico in 1950 and, in 1985, Luiz Caldas's 'Fricote' christened axé: Bahian frevo, ijexá, reggae and pop. Olodum created samba-reggae; Daniela Mercury and Ivete Sangalo took it nationwide. Salvador's carnival is the genre's biggest stage.
6 subgenres: Trio elétrico, Afoxé and ijexá, Axé music, Samba-reggae and afro blocos, Pagode baiano, Arrocha
58 artistsBrazilian Pop
São Paulo and Rio
From disco-era girl groups (Frenéticas) to the teen pop of Sandy & Junior and Rouge, to the global divas of the 21st century: Anitta, Pabllo Vittar, Ludmilla, Iza and Luísa Sonza. Today's Brazilian pop absorbs funk, sertanejo and R&B and leads the streaming platforms.
5 subgenres: Contemporary pop, Disco and dance-pop, Teen pop, Alternative pop, LGBTQIA+ pop
67 artistsBrega, Calypso and Sounds of Pará
Recife, Belém and inland Brazil
'Brega' was a critics' insult for the popular romantic music of Waldick Soriano, Odair José and Reginaldo Rossi; it became a genre name. In Pará, brega met carimbó and guitarrada and produced lambada, Banda Calypso and the tecnobrega of Belém's giant sound systems.
7 subgenres: Romantic brega, Pernambuco brega, Carimbó, Guitarrada, Lambada, Pará calypso…
43 artistsGospel and Religious Music
The whole country
One of Brazil's biggest music markets: the evangelical worship of Aline Barros, Fernandinho, Gabriela Rocha and Diante do Trono fills stadiums and leads YouTube, while Padre Marcelo Rossi's Catholic music sold millions in the 1990s. There is also Christian rock, rap and sertanejo.
4 subgenres: Worship, Pentecostal gospel, Catholic music, Gospel rap
56 artistsElectronic
São Paulo, Goiânia and festivals nationwide
DJ Marky took Brazilian drum'n'bass to London in the 1990s; in the 2010s, the 'Brazilian bass' of Alok and Vintage Culture placed Brazilian DJs among the world's most streamed. The country has one of the largest psytrance scenes and a constant dialogue between electronics and funk.
5 subgenres: Brazilian bass, Brazilian drum'n'bass, House and techno, Psytrance, Electronics and funk
39 artistsBrazilian Reggae
São Luís, Rio, Brasília and Bahia
São Luís do Maranhão is the 'Brazilian Jamaica', where roots reggae has played on sound systems since the 1970s. In the 1990s Cidade Negra and, later, Natiruts, Armandinho and Maneva made Portuguese-language reggae a mass genre.
2 subgenres: National reggae, Maranhão reggae
18 artistsSoul and Black Music
Rio and São Paulo
Tim Maia came back from the United States in 1970 and invented Brazilian soul; the Black Rio movement's dance parties, Banda Black Rio, Toni Tornado and Jorge Ben created a funk-soul with its own identity. Today Liniker, Iza and Ed Motta carry the lineage.
4 subgenres: Brazilian soul, Samba-soul, Black Rio, Neo-soul and R&B
16 artistsJazz and Instrumental
Rio, São Paulo, Minas and Pernambuco
Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, Airto Moreira and Naná Vasconcelos are revered by world jazz; Azymuth became a DJ cult; Toninho Horta and Hamilton de Holanda take Brazilian guitar and mandolin to international stages.
3 subgenres: Brazilian jazz, Fusion and jazz-funk, Brazilian guitar
36 artistsClassical Music
Rio and São Paulo
Carlos Gomes premiered 'O Guarani' at La Scala in 1870; Heitor Villa-Lobos made the 'Bachianas Brasileiras' the most-performed Brazilian classical work in the world. Nelson Freire, Guiomar Novaes and Bidu Sayão were performers of global reputation, and OSESP is the reference orchestra.
5 subgenres: Colonial music, Romanticism, Nationalism, Contemporary music, Performers and orchestras
20 artistsFolk Traditions
Every region
The music that lives in festivals, terreiros and circles: frevo and maracatu in Pernambuco, coco, ciranda and repente in the Northeast, jongo in the Southeast, catira, chamamé, siriri and cururu in the Centre-West, caiçara fandango on the coast of the South and São Paulo, gaúcho music, bumba-meu-boi, marchinhas and the rhythms of capoeira.
15 subgenres: Frevo, Maracatu, Coco and ciranda, Repente and cantoria, Jongo, Afro-Brazilian chants…
36 artistsIndigenous Music
The whole territory, from the Amazon to the South
More than 300 Indigenous peoples live in Brazil, each with its own songs, flutes and maracas tied to ritual, work and memory. Pero Vaz de Caminha's letter (1500) already describes Indigenous people dancing; today artists such as Djuena Tikuna, Brô MC's and Kaê Guajajara carry these languages into rap, pop and song.
2 subgenres: Traditional songs, Contemporary Indigenous artists
5 artistsChildren's Music
Television and YouTube
Xuxa sold the most popular children's records in the country's history in the 1980s; Turma do Balão Mágico and Trem da Alegria ruled TV. Today Galinha Pintadinha and Mundo Bita are among the most-watched children's channels on YouTube worldwide.
1 subgenres: Children's
23 artists