Known as the king of ‘baião’, Luiz do Nascimento Gonzaga was born on 13 December 1912, on the Caiçara farm, in the municipality of Exu, located at the foot of the Serra do Araripe, Pernambuco. He was the son of accordionist and instrument repairman Januário José dos Santos and Ana Batista de Jesus.

Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, born in Rio de Janeiro on 23 April 1898 (or 1897, the date indicated on his baptismal certificate), better known as Pixinguinha, was a composer, instrumentalist, arranger and conductor of great influence in Brazilian music, especially with regard to the musical genre ‘c

Instrumentalist, arranger and composer Severino Dias de Oliveira, known artistically as Sivuca, was born in Itabaiana, a town in the interior of Paraíba, on 26 May 1930, to José Dias de Oliveira and Abdólia Albertina de Oliveira.

Augusto Gomes Rodrigues’ nickname, a singer and composer born in 1916, in Quatipuru in Pará’s Bragantina region: Verequete. Mestre Verequete, as he was called, was one of those responsible for the popularisation and dissemination of carimbó, a rhythm and dance from Pará.

José de Souza Dantas Filho, known as Zé Dantas or Zedantas, as he used to sign, was born in the municipality of Carnaíba de Flores, Sertão do Alto Pajeú in Pernambuco on 27 February 1921.