Brasil: a Century of Song.

• Author: Holston, Mark

This ambitious survey of Brazilian music, documented in a four-CD boxed set and forty-eight-page booklet, takes the listener from the turn-of-the-century choro and the birth of the modern samba to contemporary fare from such stars-of-the-moment as Marisa Monte and Daniela Mercury by way of a comprehensive sixty-five-track program.

Each disc is devoted to specific eras and genres: "Folk and Traditional" derives some of its program from rare 78 rpm recordings; "Carnaval" highlights the growth of the samba in Rio and Salvador; "Bossa Nova Era" traces the evolution of this internationally popular jazz-influenced style from the late 1950s to examples of recent vintage; and "Musica Popular Brasileira" presents the pop-conscious work of such famed artists as Milton Nascimento and Gal Costa.

Because of the ready availability of a good cross section of Brazilian recordings in the U.S., the producers of Brasil: A Century of Song have taken pains to range beyond the easy choices...