Noel Rosa creait la chanson populaire urbaine, le bahianais Dorival Caymmi imposait la magie afro-bresilienne et Vinicius de Moraes fut le poete par excellence de la bossa nova. Aux cotes de ces trois geants, l'anthologie ouvre aussi le spectre a la chanson romantique de Catulo da Paixao Cearense et de Candido das Neves ainsi qu'a quelques autres plumes de reference (comme Orestes Barbosa, Cartola, Ronaldo Boscoli, Humberto Teixeira...). Noirs, mulatres ou blancs, originaires de Rio de Janeiro ou du Nordeste, auteurs - compositeurs - interpretes comme Noel Rosa ou Caymmi ou seulement paroliers, ils epousent les evolutions stylistiques de la chanson populaire bresilienne sur un demisiecle et leur talent litteraire donne a leur versification un halo hautement poetique. Noel Rosa fathered popular urban songs. Dorival Caymmi breathed Afro-Brazilian magic into them, and Vinicius de Moraes was the poet par excellence of bossa nova. This collection also celebrates other in uential artists in Brazil, the likes of Catulo da Paixao Cearense, Candido das Neves, Orestes Barbosa, Cartola, Ronaldo Boscoli and Humberto Teixeira. Whether they were black, white or mulatto, from Rio de Janeiro or Nordeste, composer songwriters or lyricists, each of these artists contributed to the stylistic evolution of popular Brazilian songs for half a century. Their literary talents made their verse a thing of extraordinary poetry.