Almir Guineto

Almir Guineto brought the banjo into samba for the first time. A committed traditionalist, he built a career by shaping pagode according to his own vision. His recording path opened in 1981 with O Suburbano, after which he issued eleven additional solo albums through 1999. That debut followed his victory at the 1981 MPB-Shell festival, where he presented the song “Mordomia.” Born on Salgueiro hill in Rio into a family already steeped in music, Guineto began his own work as a percussionist and composer inside the Acadêmicos do Salgueiro samba school, the same ensemble where his brother Mestre Louro serves as diretor de bateria. In 1981 he stood among the founders of the Fundo de Quintal group alongside Arlindo Cruz, and he later maintained a membership in the Originais do Samba ensemble that stretched beyond a decade.