Hello guys! Everyone loves music, even if each one of us has a different taste for genres! So, today we will talk about the most famous Brazilian songs, so you can learn Portuguese by hearing music as well! Our music is a collection of diverse genres, that interact to create some incredible masterpieces! One of the most famous Brazilian love songs is Garota de Ipanema, did you ever hear it? Do you know the best Brazilian songs? Think about it for a second, and we will see if you guessed a song that is here in this class!
Written and sung by Caetano Veloso, the song has been referred to as being the National Anthem of Brazil in 1967, because given the situation lived at the time, the music brought a sense of peace and calamity to Brazilians. Caetano’s performance and attitude with this song caught the attention of the audience because of the use of electric guitars; he placed fourth in the festival Rede Record. Clearly, Caetano’s music is among the best of Brazilian music.
Our famous and dear síndico (trustee), as Tim Maia was known, contributed much to music in the 1970s. His deep and iconic voice, associated with his style, which involved funk, soul and disco, gave Brazilian music the seasoning it was lacking at the time. When people list their top 10 Brazilian songs, Tim Maia for sure will be there!
The song was written by the singer Toquinho, who began his career performing in high schools and colleges; he composed his first hit, Que Maravilha, with singer Jorge Ben, in 1970. An interesting fact about Toquinho is that he was a close friend of Vinícius de Moraes and, as he says: I took advantage of my friendship with Vinícius to the end. Aquarela is one of those classic Brazilian songs that most children learn at school for presentations!
This masterpiece was written by singer-songwriter Tom Jobim, who invited the great Elis Regina to sing along with him in a remix of the song. This was considered one of the top Brazilian songs ever re-recorded. The chemistry between the singers on stage was playful and made the song even more enjoyable to hear. Águas de Março is among the most popular Brazilian songs, and certainly one the best songs in the world!
Another All-Time Brazilian hit is a song that is considered the first Bossa Nova song ever, composed by Tom Jobim, and written by Vinícius de Moraes. The most famous recording was done with João Gilberto‘s voice. The music helped consolidate Bossa Nova as a new musical genre. It’s a good example of the best Brazilian love songs.
The Tribalistas’ song and overall album was very successful; band members include Marisa Monte, Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown. An interesting fact is that the band never made any appearances together on any TV or radio show.
This song is off the album Tropicália 2, released in 1993, which celebrated the 25 years anniversary since the release of the original Tropicália album. The album contains many hits such as the song Haiti; the song served as a social critique of Brazilians’ bad habit disrespecting transit signals and signs.
The song by Jorge Ben originated from a Brazilian expression/saying Mas que nada, a slang which is meant to mean no way, yeah right or whatever. Want to see Sérgio Mendes‘ cover of this song? An interesting fact is that the song was used by the band Black Eyed Peas to create a track for the movie Rio in 2011.
The song by Chico Buarque is a social critique to a hidden individual part of everyone’s daily life in any city, the builder/mason/construction worker. In his song, the singer talks about the last day of that man who dies invisible before the eyes of all. It is worth checking it out, since this one is part of the most famous Brazilian songs ever made.
A garota de Ipanema – Tom Jobim (1962)
A Garota de Ipanema is a classic, considered by many specialists one of the best Brazilian love songs. It was composed by the great Tom Jobim with his friend, Vinícius de Moraes. The song had several covers, like the one made by the band The B-52, called the Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland. The English version of this song is called The Girl from Ipanema, written by Norman Gimbel, in 1963, and has been interpreted by many artists like Amy Winehouse, Maroon 5, Madonna and Sepultura. Everyone can agree this is one of the best Brazilian love songs, but do you think it has more of a sad or happy feeling? Tell us in the comments!
The song was one of the singles from Teló‘s second album, and he didn’t even expect it to be so successful. Ai se eu te pego soon became one of the most famous Brazilian songs, and was even listed in Billboard’s Latin Songs for weeks! It also won an English version called Oh, If I catch you.
At the time of release of this popular Brazilian music, “Lambada” was regarded as one of the best Brazilian songs in Europe. However, the band Kaoma didn’t credit Los Kjarkas, the ones that made the original song in Spanish, which turned this version into a plagiarism! 😮
Anitta is currently one of the most known Brazilian singers in the world. But everything started with Show das Poderosas, which was a huge success in Brazil and revealed the singer. Now, Anitta has many other very famous songs with incredible people like: Snoop Dogg, Major Lazer, Maluma, Iggy Azalea, Dadju, Fred de Palma, Natti Natasha and even Cardi B.
Another funk musical hit, Baile de Favela got famous in Brazil and in the world! The music is about the parties done in the favelas. This is an example of a subgenre from funk, called proibidão (forbidden), which are songs with many (MANY) curse words :p
You probably know this song from the famous Brazilian movie, Tropa de Elite. This version was the one used in the movie, but the original one was released in the 1990’s. The rhythm of Rap das Armas is traditional, precisely from the beginning of the funk movement. This one is considered one of the best Brazilian songs from the genre of funk, because it is one of the songs that started the movement of social criticism in funk.
Even if it was written by Jorge Ben Jor, originally this song was recorded by Wilson Simonal in 1969. For many, this one is considered one of the most popular Brazilian songs. The song is considered the biggest success of Jorge’s career, which already contain some top Brazilian music. It’s a good song to learn Portuguese, because it’s easy to learn and the chorus is catchy!
Gal Costa is one of those singers responsible for some of the top Brazilian songs! This version was released to integrate the holiday of the 1980’s Carnival. But the original version was sung by Carmen Miranda. This is one of the so called Marchinhas de Carnaval, a genre of songs that were made to be sung during the street Carnival!
During the year of 2003, everybody had this song stuck in their minds! To Nem Aí was the first single of Luka’s career, and one of the most popular Brazilian songs. After being chosen as part of the soundtrack for a famous novel, it became a hit, not only in Brazil, but also in many countries. We even have a Dica analyzing the lyrics of this music!
That’s it for the most famous Brazilian songs! Which one do you think is the best Brazilian music from these ones? Can you think about what makes the best Brazilian love songs? Perhaps it’s the Bossa Nova style? You can always leave us a comment below, we will love to answer!
We’ll see each other on the next Dica. Bye!
Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Best Brazilian Movies
Tourist Attractions in Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian Samba
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2 Responses
I don’t want to be negative, but I only recognized maybe three or four songs out of all of them. All I can say is that I learned a lot about Brazilian music. Unfortunately, my opinion of that genre is now considerably lower.I ‘m eighty-five. Maybe that has something to do with it. Sorry.
Don’t feel so defeated! Brazilian music is always growing and now you know more about it! Are there any songs you think should be listed that weren’t? Tell us! 🙂