Singer-songwriter Dora Morelenbaum is Rio’s most beguiling voice right now. As a member of Latin Grammy award-winning supergroup Bala Desejo, she has enamoured worldwide audiences – energising ecstatic dancefloors and concert halls with a particularly ebullient brand of MPB. On solo turns, meanwhile, Dora’s honeyed vocals and sophisticated compositions have drawn comparisons to Joyce Moreno – 2021’s gentle debut EP Vento De Beirada garnering international admirers, extolling its elegance and expansive beauty.

It is, then, as an already coveted member of Brazil’s new wave that the carioca announces her debut solo album Pique (Mr Bongo, 2024). On Pique, we hear an already accomplished Dora at her most emboldened.

Preserving the grace of her debut EP, but imbued with new-found groove and a gargantuan-sounding band, Pique is a vivid and exceedingly fun first full-length album. While there certainly remain moments of serenity here, Dora’s debut album finds her in a more dynamic mode – as a commanding bandleader, a curios composer and an exuberant performer. In her own words, “Pique was an album made in motion and ended up being about just that.”

Pique’s sophisticated compositions do indeed shift and swing – from sumptuous soul to evocative MPB, through jazz, funk and disco. And, at each dextrous turn, an animated Dora is a compelling frontwoman – buoyed by playful production, courtesy of fellow Rio star and co-producer Ana Frango Elétrico.

Release on Mr Bongo in partnership with Coala Records (Brazil) and Think! Records (Japan).


Dora Morelenbaum - Pique

Presenting the second single, ‘Essa Confusão’, taken from Dora Morelenbaum’s forthcoming debut solo album, Pique. As one of Rio’s most beguiling voices right now, and a member of Latin Grammy award-winning supergroup, Bala Desejo, Pique sees Dora embrace a freedom through fresh new forms. Alongside the funk-driven, groovier side to Dora’s songwriting that this album has highlighted, ‘Essa Confusão’ showcases those signature, celestial songs that her first solo EP beautifully demonstrated. Co-written by her Bala bandmate, Zé Ibarra, and co-produced courtesy of another of Brazil’s finest, Ana Frango Elétrico, this entrancingly elegant track is a shining example of the creativity that has reached a new boiling point in Brazil.
 
Enveloping you in the serene side of her talents, Dora glides into ‘Essa Confusão’ with a luscious string section arranged by herself and her father, Jacques Morelenbaum. A highly respected artist in his own right, Jacques has featured on an array of timeless recordings with greats including Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Ryuichi Sakamoto. It’s a simple yet instantly absorbing track. Alberto Continentino’s bass plucking and Luiz Otávio’s delicate Rhodes providing the perfect complement to the rise and fall of Dora’s dance between her vocals, the string section and Zé’s acoustic guitar. A sublime offering, from an album that surely earns the stamp ‘future classic’, with Dora’s heavenly voice so close she sounds like she’s right there next to you.

Dora Morelenbaum - Essa Confusão

Dora Morelenbaum - A Melhor Saída

Dora Morelenbaum - Sim, Não.

Dora Morelenbaum - Não Vou Te Esquecer

Dora Morelenbaum - Venha Comigo

Brazil 45, number 21: http://www.mrbongo.com/products/azymuth-a-manha-osmar-milito-e-quarteto-forma-america-latina

Azimuth - Manha

Key track from their all-time classic self-titled 1975 LP on Som Livre. Lush percussion laden, rhodes driven jazz-fusion groover.

The legendary trio are one of the most well-known and most loved Brazilian exports, still regularly touring, including dates worldwide.

Most prolific during their time signed to Milestone, where they released 10 LP’s between 1979 and 1988.

Osmar Milito e Quarteto Forma - America Latina

‘America Latina’ is taken from the soundtrack to the Rede Globo soap opera "Selva De Pedra”, released on Som Livre in 1972. A cheerful, upbeat MPB song with a killer chorus drop.

Milito began his career in 1964 artists as Nara Leão, Maria Bethania, Vinicius de Morais, Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben and Elis Regina amongst others. He worked in the USA with Chico Buarque and Sergio Mendes for several years in the 70’s, also appearing alongside artists including Liza Minelli, Mark Murphy, Spanky Wilson and Sammy Davis Jr.

As sampled on Madvillain ft. M.E.D 'Raid', and featured in the Floating Points  and Fourtet Plastic People mix!

Osmar Milito e Quarteto Forma - America Latina

Mr Bongo proudly announces the first single from Don Glori’s forthcoming third album ‘Paper Can’t Wrap Fire’. The cornerstone of the LP, 'Brown Eyes' is a joyous soul-jazz groover featuring the captivating lead male vocals of fellow Melbourne/Naarm local, ML Hall. On first listen you’d be mistaken for thinking this is a straight-up love song. Yet underneath its uplifting soulful flavours and sultry vocals, lies a deeper topic at play.

‘Brown Eyes’ discusses the comfort of seeking and finding your community when you had previously felt like an outsider. As Don mentions, “This song is about feeling 'othered' in a predominantly white society like Australia. The first verse is about being tokenised/tolerated and having to stake your claim to a place at the table. The second verse and hook are about finding people who have a shared history with you and feeling at ease around them. When you meet another person like that, and you don’t have to explain all the above, it’s a comforting feeling.” 

“It was the first song I wrote start to finish for the record, starting with the opening riff on the piano. I was taking a lot of cues from Jordan Rakei’s cover of Donald Byrd’s ‘Wind Parade’, as well as throwing in a nod to The Doobie Brothers inserting hooks where they shouldn’t be.”

The result is an empowering hit of jazz-injected soul, nourished by a funk flavour. A track that ebbs and flows between sections of sweeping tenderness and head-nodding, bassline-heavy grooves. Crisp swung drums, masterful keys and those honeyed vocals from Hall, backed with lush harmonies from Ruby Dargaville, Isadora Lauritz, and Bianca Kyriacou, combine to send you cruising out across the horizon.


Don Glori - Brown Eyes (Ft. ML Hall)

When it comes to musical discovery, sometimes the stars just align. DJ and record collector, Steve KIW, put Mr Bongo onto this amazing Chilean cover version of Jamie Principle & Frankie Knuckles' all-time classic 'Your Love’. Despite being originally released 13 years ago, it had recently started to prick the ears of house and Balearic connoisseurs in the UK, further cemented by inclusions in the Idjut Boys epic sets. Steve heard them play it, tipped us off and it soon became a favourite at Mr Bongo HQ.

By pure chance when the Mr Bongo DJs joined Luke Una to play at La Paloma ballroom in Barcelona a few weeks later, Luke dropped this incredible interpretation at the peak of his set. A good friend of his, Michelle from Huddersfield, had also put him onto the track and he instantly fell in love. A serendipitous coming together, 'Tu Amor' seemed like the perfect next instalment in the É Soul Cultura discography.

The version in question was released in 2012 as part of a digital-only EP. It came courtesy of the Chilean DJ, producer and singer Mamacita (Carolina Vallejos) and producer Sebastian Roman, aka Persona RS. Meeting Sebastian while out partying in Santiago during a boom time for electronic music in Chile, their shared passion for making house music in Spanish and their admiration for Frankie Knuckles led to the creation of this raw and unique cover version.

Recorded on lo-fi equipment, including an old Windows laptop and a borrowed Neumann microphone, it nods to the DIY ethos of the early Chicago productions. The result is a stripped-back, quirky cosmic take on a stone-cold classic, full of squelching synthlines and Carolina’s stunning Spanish vocals, that became a club hit on Chile's underground circuit. However, aside from some Latin American and US DJs picking it up, it never got the international recognition it deserved.

Fast forward to 2025, and É Soul Cultura is proud to present the glorious 'Tu Amor' on vinyl for the first time, backed with a new, extended, club re-edit by É Soul Cultura captain Luke Una and Luke Solomon (Classic Music). On first hearing ‘Tu Amor’ Luke Una recalls, “There was a real charm to it, it was quite an unorthodox arrangement, a huge wonkiness and just sounded so DIY in a brilliant way. I was chatting to Luke (Solomon) about how much we loved it and we decided to re-edit it together. Accentuating the wonk of those crazy synths, we’ve extended it to make a fiercer underground club tool, without taking away that very charming cosmic feel”.


Mamacita ft. Persona RS - Tu Amor (Your Love Spanish Version)

Available from http://www.mrbongo.com/collections/ebo-taylor/products/ebo-taylor-my-love-and-music

Originally released in 1975 on Gapophone Records, George Prah’s label, hailing from Ghana. Only available in very limited quantity (reportedly 500 copies) due to the musical vacuum imposed by the military dictatorship in the country at the time.

Laid back, lush, highlife vibrations from start to finish, with noticeable reggae influences throughout.

Ebo Taylor - My Love And Music

Lay Me Down | Renée (1982)

Rita Lee - Agora é Moda

Trio Mocotó

Swinga Sambaby

No Shit - 
Letra: Gustavo Benjão e Thomas Harres
Música: Pedro Dantas, Thomas Harres e Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra
Arranjo: Pedro Dantas e Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra
Produção Musical e texto: André Abujamra

Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra - No Shit

Letra: Domínio Público
Música: Domínio Público
Arranjo: Thiago Oliveira e Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra
Produção Musical: André Abujamra


Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra - Malunguinho

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

Dora Morelenbaum - Sim, Não.

Mr Bongo

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