Bixiga 70

In 2010 the São Paulo collective Bixiga 70 came together as a ten-piece instrumental outfit whose sound fuses Brazilian, Afrobeat, and Latin strands into a single, richly funky brew. Drawing equal influence from Gilberto Gil, Hermeto Pascoal, and Chico Science as from Fela Kuti and Mulatu Astatke, the group issued its self-titled debut album in 2011, earning immediate and widespread critical praise. That trajectory held steady through the rest of the decade, as further recordings and festival bookings turned the band into a familiar fixture on the European world-music circuit. Its studio catalog comprises Ocupai (2013), III (2015), The Copan Connection: Bixiga 70 Meets Victor Rice (2016), Quebra-Cabeça (2018), and Vapor (2023).