Putumayo Celebrates Carnival in Rio with Brazilian Beat

This new release uncovers the roots-influenced contemporary Brazilian music scene with Samba soul, bossa grooves and tropicália rhythms. Celebrate Carnival in Rio!

Read on for a chance to win a 6-CD set from Putumayo’s Brazilian series. Dan Storper is the CEO and Founder of Putumayo World Music.

Warm up your winter and celebrate Carnival in Rio (or vicariously at home!) with Brazilian Beat, Putumayo’s latest release that uncovers the roots-influenced contemporary Brazilian music scene.

Glittering break beats are at home with bouncing berimbaus while rolling Afro-Brazilian rhythms, retro samba soul and velvety bossa nova vocals mesh and groove organically.

Selected from tens of thousands of songs collected by Putumayo to introduce new global music to broad audiences, Brazilian Beat chronicles the vibrant indie scene in Brazil and around the world. Musicians are taking samba, bossa nova, and MPB (Brazilian popular music) and deftly incorporating electronica, soul, funk and just about every other music imaginable.

Sultry or upbeat, the tracks on this compilation of hip, rootsy artists aim to raise listeners’ moods and introduce even die-hard fans to a new crop of Brazilian music innovators. Featured alongside unsung icons such as samba soul master Marcos Valle are rising new stars like Tita Lima, daughter of the bassist from psychedelic hipster darlings Os Mutantes.

Brazilian music has bubbled into an indie scene-to-beat-all-indie scenes in underground clubs and on small labels from São Paulo to Rome. You can go to Italy and find a hot bossa nova scene, and they have their own sound, like Roman bossa band BungaLove’s “Minha Loucura.” A diverse array of young musicians, such as Fino Colectivo, draw on Jorge Ben’s lush ’70s samba-soul sound—and transform it.

It’s a realm of discovery, even for ardent followers of global music. Brazilian Beat is available at most Whole Foods Market stores. Do you warm up your winter with music? Let us know how in the comments below for a chance to win a 6-CD set from Putumayo’s Brazilian series.

Comment by February 22nd for a chance to win. We’ll choose one comment at random to receive the CDs.

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