Vinicius de Morais & Baden Powell - Os Afro Sambas

Considered a watershed (the original live recording) in MPB for fusing various elements of African sound with samba, Os Afro-sambas was recorded by Baden Powell, Vinícius de Moraes, and Quarteto em Cy in 1966.

In the mid-1960s Vinícius was fascinated by an LP of samba de roda songs with candomblé influences from Bahia. Baden Powell had also gone to Bahia and heard the songs of the Bahian candomblé. From this mutual enchantment with samba and religiosity found in Bahia, the Afro-sambas project emerged. The eight songs (11 in the live show) have a rich and unique musicality: a mix of candomblé and umbanda instruments (like atabaques and afoxés) with timbres common to Brazilian music (agogôs, the flute, and tambourines).[3]

The opening track, Canto de Ossanha is ranked number 9 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest Brazilian songs.[4]