Brazilian music is more immediately associated with genres like bossa nova, samba and Tropicália. Regional sounds, such as lundu, maracatu, forró, sertaneja are lesser-known. It all tends to get lumped together under the all-encompassing category of “world music”. So too does the country’s rock ‘n’ roll scene, somewhat relegated, internationally speaking, to specialist radios shows and niche record labels. But there is, in fact, an emerging contemporary Brazilian rock scene, typified by independent artists touring and releasing their own music overseas.

“I am sensitive to the traditional values, but the pleasures of experimentation seduce me like the sirens seduced the sailors in days of old.” The words of Brazilian sociologist, Gilberto Freyre, capture the essence of this new musical development in Brazil, where the boundaries between samba and rock, roots and pop, Bahia and London are becoming increasingly blurry and mixed.

In October, 1955, Nora…