Canta Canta, Minha Gente

“Canta Canta, Minha Gente” (1974) is an invitation to anyone wishing to dip a toe into samba. Starred in by singer and composer Martinho da Vila, a bastion of contemporary samba music from Rio de Janeiro, this album compiles some of the songs that are considered the most popular of the genre - even now, crowds sing them together whenever they are played in the rodas de samba across Brazil. While “Canta Canta, Minha Gente” and “Disritmia” are the most popular tracks, the less-famous “Renascer das Cinzas” extols the grandeur of Vila Isabel’s samba school, which is one of the most traditional in Rio. Other than featuring the traditional arrangements of samba urbano (the samba expression that was developed in the heart of Rio capital), “Canta Canta, Minha Gente” also takes us to the universe of samba rural in “Calango Vascaíno,” which alludes to the lifestyle and aesthetics of the rural countryside of Rio de Janeiro (where Martinho da Vila was born). Another track that brings us to this scenery is the romantic “Malandrinha,” a typical serenade-like genre from the countryside that is called seresta. Building a completely different atmosphere, “Festa de Umbanda,” one of the album’s gems, presents the sacred chants of this Rio-born Afro-Brazilian religion (umbanda) with hypnotizing melodies and petrifying drums.