Maria Bethânia

Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso (born on June 18, 1946, in Santo Amaro, Bahia) is the younger sister of Caetano Veloso and emerged from Salvador’s theater-and-music circles before breaking nationally in 1965 when she stepped into the Rio de Janeiro show Opinião and made the protest song “Carcará” a defining early hit, establishing her as one of MPB’s most distinctive voices. Through the 1970s she developed a signature stage language that blended song, spoken word, and Brazilian literary references, while recording a prolific run that culminated in major commercial impact with Álibi (1978), a landmark release credited with surpassing 1 million copies in Brazil and cementing her as one of the era’s top-selling female artists. She also aligned with the Tropicalismo generation closely associated with her brother’s circle: in 1976 she joined Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa in the supergroup Doces Bárbaros, documented on live releases and film. Across the 1980s and 1990s she remained a major concert draw and interpreter, curating repertory that connected samba, bolero, and contemporary songwriting, and she extended her collaborative scope later with projects such as her 2008 album with Cuban singer Omara Portuondo. In the 2010s she balanced new studio work and prestige live productions, releasing Meus Quintais (2014) and the career-marking concert project Abraçar e Agradecer (recorded live in 2015 and issued in 2016), then returning in 2019 with Mangueira – A Menina dos Meus Olhos, a studio homage to Estação Primeira de Mangueira. She followed with Noturno (2021), reinforcing her late-career focus on voice, text, and atmosphere, and in 2025 she renewed her shared spotlight with Caetano Veloso on the touring project captured on Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo (2025).

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